Roles of Alkaloids from Medicinal Plants in the Management of Diabetes Mellitus

Bikash Adhikari,Andrea Mastinu

doi:10.1155/2021/2691525

Abstract

Medicinal plants play a fundamental part in health sectors via the management of different infectious diseases because of their wide plenitude wellspring of bioactive phytochemicals. Research activities on them have got attention throughout the world in the present days in search of low-cost and safe compounds for the management of diabetes. This is the literature-based analysis of alkaloids from medicinal plants in preventive or treatment approaches to diabetes. The most abundant and diversified group of secondary metabolites, i.e., alkaloids, show antidiabetic activity through the inhibition of enzymes (α-amylase, α-glucosidase, aldose reductase, dipeptidyl peptidase-IV, and protein tyrosine phosphatase-1B); inhibition of advanced glycation end products; increment of insulin secretion and its sensitivity; enhancement of glucose uptake; and their antioxidant ability. The study is useful for the examination of dynamic alkaloids for the advancement of a new medication for mankind.

Highlights

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is an endocrine disorder characterized by hyperglycemia characterized with fasting blood glucose level ≥7.0 mM (126 mg/dL) [1,2,3] caused mainly due to insulin deficiency or insensitivity or inefficiency of disturbing the metabolism of ingested foods, i.e., carbohydrates, fats, and proteins
International Diabetes Federation (IDF) showed about 12% of global health expenditure was spent on diabetes management, which is a huge loss on the economy [10], and the burden is expected to skyrocket in near future
Various strategies such as diets, medications, and exercises have been carried out to control blood glucose levels and minimize the life-threatening complications of diabetes [11] depending on numerous factors such as the rate of nutrient uptake, action of digestive enzymes on nutrients food items, activity of insulin, and responses of tissues to insulin [12]. α-Glucosidase inhibitors, biguanides, insulin secretagogue sulfonylureas, insulin secretagogue nonsulfonylureas, dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV) inhibitor Journal of Chemistry insulin sensitizers or thiazolidinediones, and intestinal lipase inhibitor have been used as orally administered antihyperglycemic agents (Figure 1) for the treatment of DM [13, 14]

Summary

Introduction

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is an endocrine disorder characterized by hyperglycemia characterized with fasting blood glucose level ≥7.0 mM (126 mg/dL) [1,2,3] caused mainly due to insulin deficiency or insensitivity or inefficiency of disturbing the metabolism of ingested foods, i.e., carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. IDF showed about 12% of global health expenditure was spent on diabetes management, which is a huge loss on the economy [10], and the burden is expected to skyrocket in near future Various strategies such as diets, medications, and exercises have been carried out to control blood glucose levels and minimize the life-threatening complications of diabetes [11] depending on numerous factors such as the rate of nutrient uptake, action of digestive enzymes on nutrients food items, activity of insulin, and responses of tissues to insulin [12]. A systematic literature survey of articles was carried out by searching them in Google Scholar, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Springer link using keywords such as diabetes, antidiabetic, medicinal plants, natural products, hypoglycemic, mechanism of action, and alkaloids

Alkaloids with Antidiabetic Activities along with the Mechanism of Action

F NH2 O N

H Tecomine

Findings

Conclusions