Bioassay-guided isolation of potent α-glucosidase inhibitory compounds from the fruit of Piper mullesua Buch–Ham ex D Don. and their in silico screening

Abstract

Two bioactive compounds caffeic and sinapic acid were isolated from the fruit of the Piper mullesua Buch–Ham ex D Don using bioassay guided approach. These compounds were isolated from water fraction using column chromatography followed by semi preparative HPLC. These compounds showed very potent anti-diabetic and antioxidant activities. The molecular docking was carried out to predict the mode of interaction of the isolated compounds with α-glucosidase. The in vitro α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of caffeic and sinapic acid was determined, and their IC₅₀ values were found 0.67 and 0.82 µg/ml, respectively. A QSAR equation was generated with an R² value of 84.81%, which is suitable enough for predicting the IC₅₀ values of test molecules. The aforementioned finding confirms the isolated compounds show very significant anti-diabetic potential which is supported by the molecular docking and QSAR study. So, it has ample scope for drug development with further in vivo and clinical study.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Caffeic acid
• SINapic acid
• α-glucosidase
• antioxidant
• molecular docking
• Piper mullesua Buch–Ham ex D Don

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The authors thank Director CSIR-NEIST, Jorhat, Assam for providing facilities and valuable advice. The authors thank SEED Division, New Delhi (Grant No: SP/TSP/020/2017 & DST/SEED/TSP/STI/2020/266) and NMPB, New Delhi (Grant no: F.No.Z.18017/187/CSS/R&D/Aru.Pra01/2018-19-NMPB-IVA) for financial support. The authors also thank DBT (BT/PR24712/NER/95/828/2017), New Delhi for their support and help.