In vitro assay of alpha amylase inhibitory activity of some indigenous plants

TLDR: Aqueous extracts from leaves, stems, seeds and roots of selected plants namely Tamarindus indica, Catharanthus roseus and Caesalpinia bonducella which are used in the Ayurvedic traditional system of medicine to treat diabetes were tested for their inhibitory effect on α-amylase.

Abstract: Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder characterized by chronic hyperglycemia and its type II is the major form of diabetes, accounting for 90% of cases worldwide. The management of the blood glucose level is a critical strategy in the control of diabetes complications. There are many and diverse therapeutic strategies in the management of Type II diabetes. The inhibition of carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzymes such as α-amylase can be an important strategy to lower postprandial blood glucose levels. Such inhibitors which find application in the clinical practice for management of diabetes are known to be associated with various gastrointestinal side effects. Therefore, it is the need of time to identify and explore the amylase inhibitors from natural sources having fewer side effects. In the present study, aqueous extracts from leaves, stems, seeds and roots of selected plants namely Tamarindus indica, Catharanthus roseus and Caesalpinia bonducella which are used in the Ayurvedic traditional system of medicine to treat diabetes were tested for their inhibitory effect on α-amylase. The results revealed that aqueous extracts of leaves of T.indica 9 mg/mL, extracts from the stems and roots of C. roseus and C. bonducella (9 mg/mL) exhibited significant (more than 70%) reduction in amylase activity. The highest inhibition i.e. 87.26% was observed at a concentration of 9mg/mL with the aqueous extract of seeds of C. bonducella.