BACKGROUND: 'Phytonutrients' have been reported to exert an incredible impact on the healthcare system and offer medical benefits including the prevention or treatment of lifestyle-associated diseases. We chose one of the most common and important plant families, Musaceae, for our present study and explored its antidiabetic potential. RESULTS: Seeds of the edible fruits of Musa balbisianaColla. were investigated for their antidiabetic potential. After estimating the proximate composition, the seeds were extracted with various solvents and evaluated for antidiabetic potential in terms of the inhibition of digestive enzymes, antiglycation activity and in vitro glucose uptake. The acetone extract demonstrated the highest inhibition of -amylase and -glucosidase enzymes with IC 50 values of 36.67 ± 0.367 and 100.61 ± 0.707 g mL -1 , respectively. The extract also exhibited significant glycation inhibition with an IC 50 value of 86.48 ± 0.751 g mL -1 . Furthermore, a major phytochemical, apiforol, was isolated from the acetone extract for the first time, which demonstrated promising -glucosidase inhibition (IC 50 = 48.25 ± 0.255 mol L -1 ), antiglycation property (IC 50 = 114.23 ± 0.567 mol L -1 ) and enhanced glucose uptake in L6 myoblasts. In molecular docking studies, apiforol efficiently bonded to the active sites of -glucosidase enzyme 3A4A. CONCLUSIONS:As dietary intervention is one of the effective strategies for addressing diabetes, special attention is always given to natural food bio-actives or agro-products for better human health. The results of our study suggest that Musa balbisiana has significant potential as an ingredient in health food formulations by reducing postprandial hyperglycaemia.

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The remarkable α-glucosidase inhibition exhibited by the acetone extract of the rhizome of Ampelocissus indica (L.) and stem bark of Vateria indica Linn. (IC50 23.2 and 1.47 μg mL−1) encouraged us to isolate the phytochemicals from these plants.

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Phytochemical investigation of the stem bark of Hopea parviflora resulted in the isolation of 9 compounds; which includes friedelin (1), friedelin-3β-ol (2), (-)ampelopsin A (3), (-)-ɛ-viniferin (4), (-)-hopeaphenol (5), vaticaphenol A (6), 2,4,8-trihydroxyphenanthrene-2-O-glucoside (7), ellagic acid-3,3',4-trimethoxy-4'-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside (8) and β-sitosterol-β-D-glucoside (9). Among them, compounds 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are isolated for the first time from this species.Further, we evaluated the anti-inflammatory activity of compounds 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.In this study, compound 8 inhibited the activity of proinflammatory mediators like NO, TNF-α, IL-6, 5-LOX and COX-2, also promoted the action of antiinflammatory mediator like IL-10 via inhibition of the NF-κB pathway in LPSstimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages.

Zerumbone is a naturally occurring humulene type sesquiterpene, isolated from the rhizomes of Zingiber zerumbet (L.) Smith with excellent therapeutic potential and is recognized as a valuable synthon for the construction of diverse array of natural product motifs. In this review, we intended to highlight our achievements in utilizing abundant natural product zerumbone and its derivatives for the development of pharmacologically relevant molecular scaffolds. We provided an account of the transition‐metal catalyzed 1,4‐conjugate addition reactions of zerumbone and its derivatives along with palladium‐catalyzed cross‐couplings, transition metal‐based Lewis acid promoted interrupted Nazarov cyclisation reaction with substituted indoles and transannular cyclizations, photo‐induced transformations of zerumbone and its epoxide.