Background Mechanisms by which some plants with antihyperglycemic effects reduce postprandial hyperglycemiaare not fully elucidated. This study was designed to investigate some action mechanisms of extracts from stem bark of Citrus sinensis, seeds of Persea americana and bulbs of Allium sativum including in vitro inhibition of α-amylase and invertase; glucophagic capacity, absorption capacity on yeast cells and psoas tissues. Methods Ethanolic (EE) and aqueous (AE) extracts were tested on α-amylase and invertase activities. Glucose remaining in the medium was measured after direct interactions of: Glucose-extracts; Glucose-yeast-extracts and Glucose-psoas-extracts at different doses 0, 5, 7.5, 10 mg/ml. Results All extracts inhibited invertase with IC 50 varying from 1.92 to 4.81 mg/ml for Allium sativum extracts. α-amylase was inhibited by EE C. sinensis (IC 50 =0.063 vs 2.73 mg/ml for arcabose) and not by EE of A. sativum and EE of P. americana. Glucophagic capacity of extracts varied signicanty from 47.55 % of AE P. americana (5 mg/ml) to 100% with C. sinensis (5 mg/ml). All extracts stimulated glucose uptake (p<0.05) from 2.62 % AE C. sinensis (2.5 mg/ml) to 54.74% for EE of Persea americana (10 mg/ml). All extracts enhanced glucose uptake by psoas tissues increasing absorption capacity to up to 38.56 % with A. sativum (10.45% insulin, p<0.05). Conclusion Cumulative actions of each plant extract on inhibition of carbohydrates' digestive enzymes, adsorption of glucose in intestine and blood, stimulation of glucose uptake and insulin action on yeast cells and psoas tissues, contribute to lower hyperglycemia and diabetes related complications. Therefore, extracts from the plants could be good candidates for diabetes therapy.
The DNA in eukaryotic beings is organized in the form of chromatin, which is one of the main molecule responsible for the regulation of vital activities in the cell, such as transcriptional process and genome maintenance. Chromatin is a complex formed by a repetitive units call nucleosomes .It can be present in an open (10nm-permissive) or closed (30nm-repression) structure. It is now evident that the transcriptional response is related to the chromatin structure and dynamic and this determines clinical outcome. In this way, in order to analyse the dynamics of chromatin, we first seek to establish an in vitro methodology for the structural study of chromatin. Therefore, the objectives were to study the action of ethanol, a dehydrating agent, on the formation of mononucleosome and long fibres of chromatin reconstituted in vitro and; II) study the action of cholesterol on the formation of chromatosome, a nucleosome and linker histone (H5) complex. We observe, through biochemical assays that ethanol increases the stability of the mononucleossome and helps in the formation of 10nm chromatin fibres. However, we have noticed no effect of ethanol on the formation of the 30nm fibre reconstituted in vitro. Moreover, we observe that the cholesterol induces the formation of chromatosome. These results suggest that ethanol and cholesterol may help in the structural studies of chromatin reconstituted in vitro and that dehydration of chromatin, through these agents, can affect his dynamics .We still don't know about the physiological effects of these findings, however, our results pointed out a new research field still unexplored where small molecules are able to bind to mononucleosome and affect the chromatin structure
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