Medicinal Plants as a Source of Inhibitors of the Digestive Enzymes: Alpha-glucosidase, Alpha-amylase and Pancreatic Lipase
Date
2019-03-21
Authors
Albzoor, Raghad
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Publisher
Raghad Albzoor
Abstract
Obesity and diabetes are reaching epidemic proportions all over the world in the twenty-first century. Herbal medicine has been suggested as an alternative source of potentially useful antihyperlipidemic and antihyperglycemic agents. The objective of this study was to assess in vitro the inhibitory activity of selected local anti-diabetic and anti-obesity medicinal plants on carbohydrate and lipid digestive enzymes namely, α-glucosidase, pancreatic α-amylase, and pancreatic lipase. The inhibitory activities of ethanol: water (50%:50%) six herbal extracts (namely: Allium sativum, Allium cepa, Atriplex halimus, Cinnamomum cassia, Olea europaea and Trigonella foenum-graecum) were evaluated using the enzymatic colorimetric assays. Among the six herbal extracts (at a concentration of 200 µg/ml), only A. sativum (bulb) showed an inhibitory activity against the intestinal sucrase (α-glucosidase) with a percentage inhibition of 46.74±11.55% (p<0.01). For pancreatic lipase only C. cassia (bark) showed an inhibitory activity with a percentage inhibition of 14.33±4.98% (p<0.05). The highest inhibitory percentage was received by C. cassia (bark) and O. europaea (leaves) on pancreatic α-amylase with IC50 value 24±3.01 and 192.94±6.4 µg/mL, respectively. Taken together, these results indicate that the above mentioned plants can be potentially useful to treat diabetes or obesity. Further studies are needed for identification of the chemical composition and therapeutic effect of these plants and to identify the active ingredients responsible for these activities. In vivo tests are also required to examine other mechanisms responsible for the activity of these plants as antiobesity and antidiabetic agents.
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Keywords
Medicinal Plants as a Source of Inhibitors of the Digestive Enzymes: Alpha-glucosidase, Alpha-amylase and Pancreatic Lipase