Materials and Methods: Crude methanolic fraction of E. suberosa (Roxb) bark and its respective fractions were screened for the presence of different phytochemicals with different reagents. On the basis of increasing order of polarity, different organic solvents were used to obtain different fractions. Enzymatic studies were performed on crude methanolic extract of the plant. All the assays were performed under standard in vitro conditions.
Results: The phytochemical analysis shows the presence of alkaloids, phenols, triterpenoids, phytosterols, and flavonoids. Phenolic compounds and flavonoids are the major constituents of the plant. In anticholinesterase assay, the percent inhibition of standard drug (eserine) was 91.27 ± 1.17 and the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) was 0.04 ± 0.0001. For α-glucosidase inhibition, the IC50 value for Dichloromethane fraction was 8.45 ± 0.13, for Methanol fraction it was 64.24 ± 0.15, and for aqueous fraction it was 42.62 ± 0.17 as compared with standard IC50 that is 37.42 (acarbose). Furthermore, results show that all fractions have potential against anti-urease enzyme, but DCM fraction of crude aqueous extract has significant IC50 value (45.26 ± 0.13) than other fractions.
Conclusion: Keeping in view all the results, it is evident that the plant can be used in future for formulating effective drugs against many ailments. Secondary metabolites and their derivatives possess different biological activities, for example, .g. flavonoids in cancer, asthma, and Alzheimer. Furthermore, the extracts of this plant can be used in their crude form, which is an addition to the complementary and alternative treatment strategies.
METHODS: Crude extract obtained from the dried leaves using 80% methanolic solution was further partitioned using different polarity solvents. The resultant extracts were investigated for their α-glucosidase inhibitory potential followed by metabolites profiling using the gas chromatography tandem with mass spectrometry (GC-MS).
RESULTS: Multivariate data analysis was developed by correlating the bioactivity, and GC-MS data generated a suitable partial least square (PLS) model resulting in 11 bioactive compounds, namely, palmitic acid, phytol, hexadecanoic acid (methyl ester), 1-monopalmitin, stigmast-5-ene, pentadecanoic acid, heptadecanoic acid, 1-linolenoylglycerol, glycerol monostearate, alpha-tocospiro B, and stigmasterol. In-silico study via molecular docking was carried out using the crystal structure Saccharomyces cerevisiae isomaltase (PDB code: 3A4A). Interactions between the inhibitors and the protein were predicted involving residues, namely LYS156, THR310, PRO312, LEU313, GLU411, and ASN415 with hydrogen bond, while PHE314 and ARG315 with hydrophobic bonding.
CONCLUSION: The study provides informative data on the potential α-glucosidase inhibitors identified in C. nutans leaves, indicating the plant's therapeutic effect to manage hyperglycemia.