In vitro α-glucosidase inhibition by Brazilian medicinal plant extracts characterised by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry

Abstract

Aiming at finding natural sources of antidiabetics agents, 15 extracts from Brazilian medicinal plants of the Atlantic Forest and Amazon region were tested against α-glucosidase enzyme. Plants were selected based on the taxonomic relationships with genera including several species with antidiabetic activity. In this screening, the extracts obtained from the flowers of Hyptis monticola and the leaves of Lantana trifolia and Lippia origanoides resulted endowed with promising anti-α-glucosidase activity. The extracts from H. monticola and from L. origanoides collected in two different areas, were characterised by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Bioassay-guided fractionation led to the identification of several enzyme inhibiting compounds, among them the mechanism of action of naringenin and pinocembrin was investigated. The two L. origanoides extracts showed differences in bioactivity and in the phytochemical profiles. The fractionation of the extract from H. monticola led to a partial loss of the inhibitory effect.

Keywords:

• α-Glucosidase
• antidiabetics
• Brazilian medicinal plants
• LC–MS/MS
• HCCC

Acknowledgements

We are indebted to the Laboratório Multiusuário de Análises por RMN at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro for the access to NMR facilities, and to the Central Analítica, Departamento de Produtos Naturais e Alimentos for the MS analyses.

Disclosure statement

All the authors declare that there is no conflict of interest concerning this work.

Additional information

Funding

Financial support was provided by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Faperj).