A promising approach for treating diabetes mellitus (DM) is to decrease postprandial hyperglycaemia by suppressing carbohydrate digestion using α-glucosidase inhibitors. Pluchea indica leaf extracts possess inhibitory activity against intestinal maltase. Enzyme assay-guided fractionation by chromatography yielded five active caffeoylquinic acid derivatives (1-5). Their structures were elucidated by mass spectrometry and NMR analysis and completed by comparison with reference data. 3,5-Di-O-caffeoylquinic acid (1), 4,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid methyl ester (2), 3,4,5-tri-O-caffeoylquinic acid methyl ester (3), 3,4,5-tri-O-caffeoylquinic acid (4) and 1,3,4,5-tetra-O-caffeoylquinic acid (5) were isolated. Comparison of the activities of each isolate suggested that both methyl esterification of quinic acid and the number of caffeate groups in the molecule were important for the inhibitory activity. This study provides basic information for further examination of the suitability of P. indica as a functional food and medicinal supplement for the treatment and prevention of diabetes.
Screening of selected Indonesian medicinal plants has uncovered the potentials of E. longifolia Jack (root) and P. nigrum L. (fruits) with dual active functions, increasing insulin sensitivity through the enhancement of glucose uptake and reducing lipid accumulation in adipose cells. These findings suggest that the ability of both plants to suppress lipid production would provide additional benefits in the treatment of diabetes.
Inhibition of pancreatic lipase is effective for a prevention of obesity. Eugenia polyantha is a tropical tree whose leaves are known as a spice and also as an ingredient for Jamu, the traditional medicine of Indonesia. We found inhibitory activity against pancreatic lipase in the extract of E. polyantha leaves. Purification of the active principals resulted in isolation of hydroxychavicol, and two structurally new dimers. All of the isolated compounds showed inhibitory activity against the porcine pancreatic lipase and high content of hydroxychavicol (1.83 wt.%) indicated this compound to be responsible for the majority of inhibitory activity of E. polyantha extract. Furthermore, hydroxychavicol is reported to possess anti-carcinogenic, anti-oxidant, anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory activity which is related to traditional usage of this plant. These results offer this plant as an attractive material for treating various health problems including obesity.
In screening experiments for rat intestinal -glucosidase (sucrase and maltase) inhibitors in 325 plants cultivated in Japan's southern island, of Tanegashima, marked inhibition against both sucrase and maltase was found in the extract of the fruit of Solanum torvum. Enzyme-assay guided fractionation of the extract led to the isolation of methyl caffeate (1) as a rat intestinal sucrase and maltase inhibitor. We examined 13 caffeoyl derivatives for sucrase-and maltase-inhibitory activities. The results showed that methyl caffeate (1) had a most favorable structure for both sucrase and maltase inhibition, except for a higher activity of methyl 3,4,5-trihydroxycinnamate (14) against sucrase. Its moderate inhibitory action against -glucosidase provides a prospect for antidiabetic usage of S. torvum fruit.Key words: Solanum torvum; -glucosidase inhibitor; methyl caffeate; Tanegashima Diabetes mellitus is one of the most serious chronic diseases. It is caused by continual hyperglycemia and develops along with increases in obesity and aging in the general population. 1) One of the therapeutic approaches to decreasing postprandial hyperglycemia is to retard absorption of glucose by inhibition of carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzymes -amylase and -glucosidase in the digestive organs.2) In recent years, many efforts have been made to search for effective -glucosidase inhibitors from natural sources in order to develop a physiological functional food or to discover lead compounds for medicinal usage against diabetes.3) In the course of our search for rat intestinal -glucosidaseinhibiting principles from various plants, we have isolated and identified several active compounds from plants grown in Asian regions, including Japan, [4][5][6][7] Thailand, 8,9) China, 10,11) and Nepal. 12) In this paper, we present the results of a screening of plants cultivated in Tanegashima, a southern island of Japan, for rat intestinal -glucosidase inhibition. In the screening experiments for rat intestinal sucrase and/or maltase inhibitors in 325 plants, potent sucrase and maltase inhibiting activity was found in extract of the fruit of Solanum torvum (Solanaceae), an edible herbaceous perennial plant. There have been several reports on the chemical constituents of this plant, which include welldocumented steroidal compounds [13][14][15] and antiviral activities, 16) but no other biologically active compounds from this plant have been reported to date. Hence, the promising screening result prompted us to isolate and elucidate the structures of active compounds in this plant. Separation of S. torvum fruit extract using various column chromatographic techniques lead to the isolation of methyl caffeate (1) as one of active principles. Some -glucosidase inhibitors previously isolated from plants contain the caffeoyl moiety as the part of their structure and have been found to be important in exerting inhibitory activity, 3,7) but the contribution of an ester part to the -glucosidase-inhibitory activity of caffeic esters has not been studied. Hence ...
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