Abstract
Purpose: To investigate in vitro antioxidant and anti-diabetic potentials of Fagonia indica Burm.f. Var. indica in order to provide scientific evidence for its traditional use.
 Methods: Cold maceration method was employed for the preparation of extracts of aerial parts of the plant using chloroform, n-hexane, methanol and water as solvents. Total flavonoid and polyphenolic content of various extracts were determined by standard methods. The antioxidant and anti-diabetic activities of the extracts were determined using 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and in vitro αglucosidase (maltase) inhibitory assays, respectively.
 Results: Preliminary results indicated the presence of various phytochemicals in the extracts. The chloroform extract exhibited the highest contents of total flavonoids (65.98 ± 1.63 mg QE/g) and polyphenols (26.75 ± 1.09 mg GAE/g). This extract also showed the highest free radical scavenging (64.74 ± 1.43 %) with IC50 value of 34.18 ± 5.57 µg/mL while the methanol extract exerted the highest αglucosidase (maltase) inhibitory activity (45.22 ± 0.46 %) with half-maximal concentration (IC50) of 220.4 ± 0.41 µg/mL.
 Conclusion: The extracts of the aerial parts of Fagonia indica possess significant anti-diabetic and antioxidant effect, thus justifying the traditional use of the plant for treatment of diabetes.
Highlights
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder which is characterized by an increase in blood glucose level and causes disturbances in fat, protein and carbohydrate metabolism
Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors suppress the postprandial hyperglycemia (PPHG) effect by suppressing the hydrolysis of disaccharides into glucose monomers leading to decreased glucose absorption [5]
One of the potential approaches to find out a new agent of drug for treating diabetes, especially type 2 DM is the mechanism of α-glucosidase inhibition [7]
Summary
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder which is characterized by an increase in blood glucose level (hyperglycemia) and causes disturbances in fat, protein and carbohydrate metabolism. In order to prepare the working solution, 200 μL was taken in the test tubes for each of the standard and sample, and the volume was made up to 1 mL by the addition of methanol. TFC was determined from the standard calibration curve of quercetin (milligrams of quercetin equivalent/g of plant extract) using linear regression equation. Stock solutions of gallic acid (1mg/mL) and the extracts (1 mg/mL) were prepared using methanol as solvent. TPC was determined by using calibration curve of standard (milligrams of gallic acid equivalent/g of plant extract) using linear regression equation. The DPPH free radical scavenging activity of the extracts was investigated using DPPH (1, 1diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) assay as described by Lee and Shibamoto [18] and compared with a standard antioxidant BHT. Differences were considered to be statistically significant at p < 0.05
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