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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the inhibition activity of Tribulus terrestris L. (T. terrestris) fruits extracts with solvents of increasing polarity against α-glucosidase and α-amylase, and to determine the inhibition mode of the most effective extract against both enzymes.

Hexane, acetone, ethanol and aqueous extracts of T. terrestris fruits were prepared using ultrasonic sequential extraction and analyzed for their α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities by specific assay for each enzyme. The modes of inhibitions were detected using Lineweaver–Burk plots.

T. terrestris fruits extracts showed inhibition activity against α-glucosidase and α-amylase which was in the dose-dependent manner. Hexane extract had the highest α-glucosidase inhibition activity (IC₅₀ = 27.28 μg/ml, p = 0.003), followed by acetone and ethanol extracts (IC₅₀ = 60.58 μg/ml and IC₅₀ = 84.21 μg/ml, respectively). The inhibition mode of hexane extract was noncompetitive. While acetone extract showed the highest inhibition activity against α-amylase (IC₅₀ = 6.18 mg/ml, p = 0.002), hexane and ethanol extracts showed no significant difference (IC₅₀ = 13.04 mg/ml and IC₅₀ = 14.20 mg/ml, respectively, p = 0.09). The inhibition mode of acetone extract was competitive.

T. terrestris fruits extracts had strong inhibition activity against α-glucosidase and α-amylase, and they can be used as a promising anti-diabetic agent.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the antioxidant and type II diabetes related enzyme inhibition properties of phenolic extract from raw and traditionally processed Indian under‐utilized food legume grains, Bauhinia purpurea L. (purple camel's foot seeds).

The methanolic extract was prepared from the raw and traditionally processed seed samples and analyzed for total phenolic content. The antioxidant activity and type II diabetes related enzyme inhibition properties of methanolic extract and their relationship with phenolic content was demonstrated.

The methanolic extract of raw seed materials contained total free phenolic content of 14.45±1.62 g catechin equivalent/100 g extract DM. Encouraging levels of ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP, 1203 mmol Fe[II]/mg extract), inhibition of ß‐carotene degradation (45.37 percent) and scavenging activity against DPPH (63.60 percent) and superoxide (42.14 percent) radicals were exhibited by the raw samples. Further, it also recorded 80.69 percent of α‐amylase and 63.74 percent of α‐glucosidase enzyme inhibition characteristics under in vitro starch digestion bioassay. Sprouting+oil‐frying caused an apparent increase on the total free phenolic content, antioxidant and free radical scavenging capacity, while soaking+cooking as well as open‐pan roasting treatments show diminishing effects.

Identification of suitable processing technique offered a good strategy to improve the phenolic content and health relevant functionality of B. purpurea seeds, which could be envisaged as a dietary ingredient in the formulation of supplementary foods with therapeutic value to manage type II diabetic patients.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the health and medicinal importance of bush tea (Athrixia phylicoides DC) and special tea (Monsonia burkeana Planch. ex Harv), two of Southern African indigenous herbal teas.

The two herbal teas, A. phylicoides and M. burkeana were extracted individually and in combined ratios for analysis. The phenolic content was determined and the different phenolic compounds were identified using thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The anti-diabetic activity of the teas was determined by evaluating the inhibition of both α-amylase and α-glucosidase in vitro. The anti-proliferative activity was measured on human cervical cancer (HeLa) cell line using the MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)2,5-diphenyltetrazolium) assay.

Gallic acid, chlorogenic acid and quercetin were identified to be present in significant quantities by TLC. The HPLC quantified the presence of catechin (1.567 mg/g) and chlorogenic acid (1.862 mg/g) in special tea while chlorogenic acid (1.288 mg/g) was present in bush tea. Bush tea and special tea expressed significant levels of phenolic content and high antioxidant activities. Special tea (S100) expressed high inhibition of α-amylase, α-glucosidase and HeLa cell line proliferation when compared to bush tea (B100).

Both bush tea and special tea could provide an alternative for treatment and management of both diabetes and cervical cancer. However, future studies are needed to investigate their synergistic effect with a wide range of other commercial herbal teas.

This study paper aims to evaluate the Phytochemical Composition, anti-obesity, anti-antipyretic and analgesic effect of Ephedra alata (Ea) extracts.

Obesity was induced in male Wistar rats through a high-fat/fructose diet (HF/FD). Control rats received a standard diet.

Results of this study showed that the Ea methanol extract (MEEa) exhibited a prominent selective inhibitory effect against lipase activity (IC50 = 1.29 mg/ml) as compared to water and ethyl acetate extracts (with IC50 = 1.63 and 1.89, respectively). Also, MEEa exert antipyretic and analgesic activities. In high-fat-high-fructose diet rats, the administration of MEEa inhibited lipase activity in the intestine, pancreas and serum by 53%, 40% and 53%, respectively. It was found to significantly decrease body weight by 20% (p = 0.09) and delay the absorption of triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) and increase HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C). In addition, MEEa efficiently decreased a-amylase activity in the intestine, pancreas and serum by 43%, 26% and 46%, respectively, and blood glucose level by 35% (p = 0.06).

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study demonstrates for the first time that MEEa are efficient in preventing obesity and hyperglycemia, pain and fever.

Literature has shown that phenolic acids and flavonoids are bearing with hypoglycemic and anti-adipogenic properties. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the possibility of phenolic-rich soya bean husk powder extract (SHPE) in combating diabetes and obesity using in vitro models.

The hypoglycemic properties were evaluated by determining the ability of SHPE (25-100 µg/mL) in inhibiting a-amylase and a-glucosidase enzymes and in triggering insulin secretion in BRIN-BD11 cells. Murine 3T3-L1 adipocytes were used for evaluating the anti-adipogenic properties of SHPE through the determination of relative lipid accumulation, triglyceride content and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH) activity.

The hypoglycemic properties of SHPE was in the dose-dependent manner, where 100 µg SHPE/mL exhibited a significant higher (p < 0.05) a-amylase inhibitory activity (56.8 ± 0.11 per cent) and insulin secretion activity (0.73 ± 0.02 µg/l) against other concentrations. In contrast to the aforementioned findings, a significant lower a-glucosidase inhibitory activity (52.0 ± 0.44 per cent) was also observed in 100 µg SHPE/mL. Nevertheless, findings revealed that all the SHPE were able to inhibit the activity of a-amylase and a-glucosidase and stimulated the insulin secretion in BRIN-BD11 cells. On the other hand, the anti-adipogenic properties of SHPE were in the reverse dose-dependent manner, where 100 µg SHPE/mL demonstrated a significant lower (p < 0.05) relative lipid accumulation (48.5 ± 0.03 per cent), intracellular triglyceride content (5.7 ± 0.07 mg/dL) and GPDH activity (1.0 ± 0.01 mU/mL). These findings reflected that 100 µg SHPE/mL was a potent anti-adipogenic agent when compared with other concentrations. In conclusion, soya husk could emerge as a potential hypoglycemic and anti-adipogenic agents in in vitro models.

This was the first study to explore the effectiveness of phytochemicals derived from soya bean husk in ameliorating hyperglycemia and adipogenesis. Promising findings that derived from the present study could enable the scientists to re-evaluate the potential use of agricultural wastes, especially in the formulation of nutraceuticals.

Salak (Salacca zalacca) is an underutilised fruit. The bioactivities of this fruit have rarely been studied scientifically. Thus, the present study aimed to determine the antioxidant activity of extracts derived from the peel, fruit and kernel of the Salak fruit, as well as the hypoglycemic and anti-hypertensive properties of Salak peel extracts.

The peel, fruit and kernel of the Salak were extracted using distilled water, methanol and ethanol. Antioxidant activities, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and alpha-amylase inhibition properties of the extracts were estimated via in vitro standard methods. Besides, the total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) of the extracts were also determined in the present study. The antioxidant activities of different parts of Salak extracts were determined by ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) methods. Percent of radical scavenging properties were calculated via DPPH assay. The hypoglycemic and anti-hypertensive properties of Salak peel were evaluated using alpha-amylase inhibition and ACE assays, respectively.

Fruit extracts of Salak in methanol were found to exhibit the highest TPC (10.27 ± 0.12 mg GAE/g), TFC (11.04 ± 0.89 mg CE/g) and antioxidant properties amongst all samples whereby the TPC and TFC were strongly correlated with antioxidant activities. On the other hand, distilled water extracted Salak kernel showed to have the lowest TPC (0.53 ± 0.05 mg GAE/g), TFC (0.37 ± 0.01 mg CE/g) and antioxidant properties amongst all the Salak extracts. Peel extracts exhibit comparable antioxidant activities with fruit extracts in the current findings. In addition, peel extracts indicated some extend of ACE and alpha-amylase inhibition activities regardless of the solvents used. Methanol and ethanol peel extracts indicated no significant difference (p < 0.05) ACE (98%) and alpha-amylase (90%) inhibition activities. However, distilled water extracted Salak peel showed significantly lower ACE and alpha-amylase inhibition in comparison to methanol and ethanol peel extracts.

The present findings suggested that the fruit of Salak exhibits the highest antioxidant properties, followed by the peel and lastly, the kernel, which shows the lowest antioxidant properties amongst all the samples. The results also indicated that the peel extracts have ACE and alpha-amylase inhibition activities.

For the prevention and cure of disease, patient use various types of chemical and drug agents. Along with their curative effect, almost all drugs have some destructive effects and side-effects. Due to the minimal and/or none of unwanted side-effect, recently, the use of herbal remedy as the drug of choice becomes the preference choice. The mangosteen, Garcinia mangostana, contains various types of polyphenols. It has been used as a traditional medicine from the ancient times till present days. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the biological properties of mangosteen in relation to health promotion effects.

Several research papers from well-known database (such as PubMed, Google scholar, Scopus and Sciencedirect) were reviewed without considering publication-times to understand the biological properties of mangosteen.

Mangosteen and its xanthone exerted diverse biological activities such as anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergy, anti-bacteria, anti-fungal, anti-malaria, anticancer and anti-diabetes.

Based on these studies, mangosteen is beneficial dietary supplement of overall human health.

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of olive cake (CO) on glycaemia and lipemia and lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzymes activities in erythrocytes and tissues, in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats.

Diabetes was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of STZ (55 mg/kg BW). In total, 12 diabetic D rats, weighing 260 ± 20 g, were divided into two groups fed a casein diet supplemented (D-OC) or not (D) with OC (7.5 per cent), for four weeks.

In D-OC compared with D, glycaemia, total cholesterol and triglycerides values (−40 per cent; p = 0.007, 27 per cent; p = 0.007 and −27 per cent; p = 0.0019). In erythrocyte, liver, kidney, heart, muscle and brain, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances contents were respectively, (−19 per cent; p = 0.03, −32 per cent; p = 0.002, −20 per cent; p = 0.04, −68 per cent; p = 0.003, −74 per cent; p = 0.0003 and −38 per cent; p = 0.04). In erythrocyte, SOD, GSH-Px and CAT activities were respectively, (+14 per cent; p = 0.01, +74 per cent; p = 0.012 and +34 per cent; p = 0.0009). In the liver, kidney, heart and muscle, SOD activity was respectively, (+31 per cent; p = 0.004, +12 per cent; p = 0.038, +43 per cent; p = 0.001 and +23 per cent; p = 0.18). GSH-Px activity was respectively, (+121 per cent; p = 0.0009, 89 per cent; p = 0.0006, + 95 per cent; p = 0.008, +71 per cent; p = 0.02 and +26 per cent; p = 0.01), in the liver, kidney, heart, muscle and brain. Catalase activity was (+21 per cent; p = 0.008) in the liver, (+88 per cent; p = 0.0002 in the kidney, +53 per cent; p = 0,002 in the heart and 83 per cent; p = 0.00004 in the muscle).

In diabetic rats, OC reduces hyperglycaemia induced by STZ and attenuates triglyceridemia and cholesterolemia. This residue is able to decrease the oxidative stress by increasing the antioxidant enzymes activity in erythrocytes and tissues. The high contents of phytoconstituents present in OC are considered to be responsible for this effect.

This paper aims to evaluate the protective potential of prickly pear cactus fresh cladodes (opuntia ficus indica (OFI)) on glycemic disorders, dyslipidemia, prooxidant/antioxidant stress biomarkers and reverse cholesterol transport (by evaluating the activity of lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT)) and paraoxonase (PON1) in rats prematurely exposed to cafeteria diet (CD).

Sixteen young rats were divided into two groups fed CD containing 50 per cent of hyperlipidic diet (HLD) and 50 per cent of junk food mix supplemented or not with 50 g of fresh young cladodes of OFI to 100 g of CD, during 30 days.

OFI cladodes supplementation decreased significantly body weight (p < 0.001), food intake (p < 0.05), adipose tissue weight (p < 0.01), fasting glycemia and glycosylated hemoglobin (p < 0.01), homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR) and insulinemia (p < 0.001), levels of cholesterol (C) (p < 0.05) and triacylglycerols (TG) (p < 0.01) in serum and in very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL-C p < 0.05 and VLDL-TG p < 0.01) and improves reverse cholesterol transport by increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesteryl-esters concentrations (p < 0.001) and by stimulating LCAT activity. Moreover, they attenuated lipid peroxidation in VLDL and low-density lipoproteins by increasing atheroprotective activity of PON-1 and in liver and adipose tissue by enhancing enzymatic antioxidant defence.

The young cladodes of OFI because of their antiobesity benefits could constitute a novel functional ingredient in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical applications.

Young cladodes of OFI in rat precociously submitted to a hyperlipidic diet/junk food (cafeteria model) seem to prevent metabolic disorders associated with obesity.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of green coffee extract on anthropometric index and lipid profile, fasting blood sugar, chemerin and malondialdehyde on subjects with metabolic syndrome.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted in Sheikh Al Raise Clinic from September 2016 to March 2017. The participants were randomly divided into green coffee group and placebo group. Green coffee group (n = 24) received green coffee extract (GCE), while placebo group (n = 24) took cellulose as a placebo, two capsules (400 mg) two times each day for eight weeks. The anthropometric index and lipid profile, fasting blood sugar, chemerin and malondialdehyde were measured at the beginning of the study and after eight weeks of treatment with GCE. Blood samples were collected before and after eight weeks of supplementation.

Significant weight loss, from 84.80 ± 2.12 kg to 80.94 ± 2.10 kg (ptime = 0.030, pGC = 0.007), as well as decreases in body mass index (ptime = 0.034, pGC = 0.006) were detected in the green coffee group after eight weeks. Also, the green coffee group has significant lower (pgroup = 0.029, ptime = 0.013) malondialdehyde (MDA) compared to the placebo group, and there was a significant difference between two groups at the insulin level and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (ptime = 0.001, pgroup = 0.048), (ptime = 0.012, pgroup = 0.007). However, there was no significant difference in lipid profile, fasting blood sugar and serum chemerin between two groups after eight weeks of supplementation.

This paper showed the statistical difference in body weight, malondialdehyde, insulin and insulin resistance after eight weeks of treatment. GCE might be associated to reduction in the carbohydrate absorption and the enhancement of lipid metabolism.