Antidiabetic Potential of Flavonoids from Enicostema Littorale Blume

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is termed as metabolic disorder wherein there is an insulin deficiency or insulin resistance towards peripheral tissues causes hyperglycemia. Currently, it is estimated that 422 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes mellitus, out of which, 90% of the population suffers from type 2 diabetes mellitus (type 2 DM) which is characterized by insulin resistance. The limitations with the current therapy have encouraged researchers to discover new antidiabetic drugs which are more safe and potent. The natural products and the botanicals provide a new insight for the development of more efficient and safe drugs. There are many reports which highlight the glucose lowering activity of plants in vitro and in vivo. In type 2 DM, insulin target tissues are damaged that aggravates the insulin ability to trigger the insulin resistance. newlineEnicostema littorale blume (E. littorale) is an antidiabetic plant and has been studied for its effect with respect to crude extracts and major constituent. There are no reports on antidiabetic activity of flavonoids from E. littorale and their mechanism of action. Thus, this study demonstrated the isolation of flavonoids from E. littorale, characterization and identification by LC/MS, in vitro and in vivo antidiabetic activity and their mechanistic studies. newlineTotal five flavonoid rich fractions; fraction A (FA), fraction B (FB), fraction C (FC), fraction D (FD) and fraction E (FE) from E. littorale were isolated by liquid-liquid extraction. On the basis of total flavonoid content, FA, FB, FC and FD were taken ahead for analysis. The four fractions were characterized by using TLC, UV spectrophotometer and FTIR spectroscopy and identified by LC/MS. The results showed the presence of total eight flavonoids on the basis of their molecular weight and fragmentation pattern as per the reported literature.