Molecules 2012, 17(5), 5915-5923; doi:10.3390/molecules17055915
Article

Tropical Plant Extracts as Potential Antihyperglycemic Agents

Thamilvaani Manaharan 1,* email, Uma Devi Palanisamy 2  and Cheng Hwee Ming 1
1 Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia 2 School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University, Sunway Campus, Bandar Sunway, Selangor 46150, Malaysia
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 7 April 2012; in revised form: 28 April 2012 / Accepted: 30 April 2012 / Published: 18 May 2012
(This article belongs to the Section Natural Products)
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Abstract: Preliminary investigations on 14 plant extracts (obtained by ethanolic and aqueous extraction) identified those having high antioxidant and a significant total phenolic content. Antihyperglycemic, a-amylase and a-glucosidase inhibition activities were also observed. A correlation between the antihyperglycemic activity, total phenolic content and antioxidant (DPPH scavenging) activity was established. To further substantiate these findings, the possibility of tannins binding non-specifically to enzymes and thus contributing to the antihyperglycemic activity was also investigated. Our study clearly indicated that the antihyperglycemic activity observed in the plant extracts was indeed not due to non-specific tannin absorption.
Keywords: type 2 diabetes mellitus; a-glucosidase; a-amylase; antioxidant; total phenolic content

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Manaharan, T.; Palanisamy, U.D.; Ming, C.H. Tropical Plant Extracts as Potential Antihyperglycemic Agents. Molecules 2012, 17, 5915-5923.

AMA Style

Manaharan T, Palanisamy UD, Ming CH. Tropical Plant Extracts as Potential Antihyperglycemic Agents. Molecules. 2012; 17(5):5915-5923.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Manaharan, Thamilvaani; Palanisamy, Uma Devi; Ming, Cheng Hwee. 2012. "Tropical Plant Extracts as Potential Antihyperglycemic Agents." Molecules 17, no. 5: 5915-5923.

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