Abstract
Objective: The early stage of diabetes mellitus type 2 is associated with postprandial hyperglycemia. The therapeutic approach involved in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus is the use of agents that can decrease postprandial hyperglycemia by inhibiting carbohydrate digesting enzymes. In an effort of identifying herbal drugs which may become useful in the prevention or mitigation of diabetes, the antidiabetic activity of Ficus semicordata (FS) and its constituents were studied. The present study was undertaken in part to identify the potent antihyperglycemic fraction from the ethanol extract of the plant, using bioassay guided evaluation.Methods: The ethanol extract of Ficus semicordata were fractionated to obtain chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and ethanol extracts which were tested for alpha-amylase, alpha-glucosidase inhibitory, properties. Further fractionation of the more active ethanol fraction yielded isolates FS-1 and FS-2 which were tested for in vivo antidiabetic activity using Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats.Results: Ethanol extract from leaves of the plant showed notable alpha-amylase (IC50 = 3.352µg/ml and alpha-glycosidase inhibitory activity (IC50= 3.448µg/ml) as compared to standard acarbose (IC50 = 3.175µg/ml. Subfraction FS-1 and FS-2 which were tested for in vivo antidiabetic activity using acute STZ-induced diabetic rats significantly (*p<0.05, **p<0.01, *** p<0.001) reduced blood glucose level.Conclusion: The Ficus semicordata plant extracts and the fractionated components could be used as a natural antidiabetic after comprehensive in vitro and in vivo biological studies.
Highlights
The usage of medicinal plants for treatment of diabetes is since prehistoric time worldwide
Ethanol extract from leaves of the plant showed notable alpha-amylase (IC50 = 3.352μg/ml and alpha-glycosidase inhibitory activity (IC50= 3.448μg/ml) as compared to standard acarbose
The IC50 value of alphaamylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of various extracts of Ficus semicordata are shown in table 1
Summary
The usage of medicinal plants for treatment of diabetes is since prehistoric time worldwide. The ethnopharmacological studies of traditional herbal remedies used for diabetes around the world have identified more than 1200 species of plants with hypoglycemic activity [1]. Despite the recommendations given by World Health Organization for proper scientific validation, there is a continuous usage of plants in traditional healing system. Medicinal plants are gaining popularity due to minimum side effects, inexpensive and safe when compared to allopathic drugs [2, 3]. The parts of FS that were used for medicinal treatments are young fruits, bark, leaves used for combating diseases like leprosy, fever [5, 6] diarrhea [7] ulcer [8, 9, 10] gastric problems [11]
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