Blighia welwitschii (Hiern) leaf solvent fractions ameliorate diabetes in Drosophila melanogaster induced by high–sucrose diet

Abstract

The therapeutic potential of Blighia welwitschii in insulin resistant disorder is poorly understood. Herein, the antioxidant and anti-diabetes potentials of solvent fractions of B. welwitschii leaf was performed using various experimental approaches in Drosophila melanogaster model. In vitro antioxidant and alpha amylase inhibitory assay were carried out on successive fractions of aqueous, butanol, ethylacetate and hexane using standard procedures. The most active fraction was subjected to HPLC analysis and the bioactive compounds identified were virtually screened against D. melanogaster α-amylase (2QV4) binding site using Schrodinger suite (2017 v 1). The butanol and ethylacetate fractions were fed to diabetes and non-diabetes flies to study their anti-diabetes and anti-oxidant properties followed by ILP-2, InR and IMPL2 mRNA expression using standard procedures. The findings from this study showed that, ethylacetate and butanol fractions possess high percentage hydroxyl radical inhibiting capacity and appreciable ferric reducing antioxidant potential. The phenolics and flavonoids contents were appreciably high compared with other fractions. These fractions also restored glucose imbalance and thiol homeostasis in diabetes flies. The in silico and in vitro anti-diabetes analyses suggested that, the active compounds possess inhibitory efficacy against α-amylase with cyanidin-3-o-rutinoside having the highest binding affinity (−12.8 kcal/mol). The EBW showed non-significant down-regulation of IMPL2 and InR mRNA expression in diabetes flies compared with diabetes untreated flies. Overall, butanol and ethylacetate fractions of B. welwitschii leaf ameliorate insulin resistant diabetes and therefore might be useful for the management of diabetes. However, further anti-diabetes study in other animal model is proposed to compliment this finding.