Neurodegenerative disorders are estimated to become the second leading cause of death worldwide by
2040. Despite the widespread use of diverse allopathic drugs, these brain-associated disorders can only be partially
addressed and long term treatment is often linked with dependency and other unwanted side effects. Nature,
believed to be an arsenal of remedies for any illness, presents an interesting avenue for the development of novel
neuroprotective agents. Interestingly, inhibition of cholinesterases, involved in the breakdown of acetylcholine in
the synaptic cleft, has been proposed to be neuroprotective. This review therefore aims to provide additional
insight via docking studies of previously studied compounds that have shown potent activity against acetylcholinesterase
(AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) in vitro. Indeed, the determination of potent plant-based
ligands for this purpose through in silico methods enables the elimination of lengthy and costly traditional methods
of drug discovery. Herein, a literature search was conducted to identify active phytochemicals which are
cholinesterase inhibitors. Following which in silico docking methods were applied to obtain docking scores.
Compound structures were extracted from online ZINC database and optimized using AM1 implemented in gaussian09
software. Noteworthy ligands against AChE highlighted in this study include: 19,20-dihydroervahanine A
and 19, 20-dihydrotabernamine. Regarding BChE inhibition, the best ligands were found to be 8-Clavandurylkaempferol,
Na-methylepipachysamine D; ebeiedinone; and dictyophlebine. Thus, ligand optimization
between such phytochemicals and cholinesterases coupled with in vitro, in vivo studies and randomized clinical
trials can lead to the development of novel drugs against neurodegenerative disorders.