Volume 4 • Issue 5 • 1000144 J Develop Drugs ISSN: 2329-6631 JDD an open access journal Research Article Open Access Journal of Developing Drugs J o u r n a l o f D e v e l o p i n g D r u g s ISSN: 2329-6631 Hamza et al., J Develop Drugs 2015, 4:5 http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2329-6631.1000144 Keywords: α-Glucosidase inhibitors; Alternative drugs; Flavonoids; Polyphenols Introduction Diabetes, a multifactorial disease afecting over 347 million people worldwide, is characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both [1]. Diabetes not only kills, but is a major cause of adult blindness, kidney failure, gangrene, neuropathy, heart attacks, and strokes. here has been a striking emergence of non- insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (type 2 diabetes) as a major health problem in populations undergoing modernization of life-style, both in developing nations and in developed countries. Over 90% of patients with diabetes have type 2 diabetes, while the remaining has type 1 diabetes [1]. α-Glucosidase inhibitors are a class of drugs used to treat non- insulin dependent diabetes by inhibiting α-glucosidase (EC 3.2.1.20, α-D-glucoside glucohydrolase), a membrane-bound intestinal enzyme that catalyze the hydrolysis of the α -glycosidic bond of oligosaccharides to liberate glucose. Liberated glucose is absorbed from the intestine and contributes to postprandial hyperglycemia. α-Glucosidase inhibitors prevent or delay the hydrolysis or absorption of carbohydrates and reduce post prandial hyperglycemia, making such inhibitors useful in the management of type 2 diabetes [2]. Currently, acarbose, voglibose and miglitol are three such α -glucosidase inhibitors used clinically to control blood glucose levels of patients, although they can cause negative gastrointestinal symptoms [3,4]. Published surveys indicated that more than 1200 plants are used worldwide in traditional medicine for their alleged hypoglycemic activity [5,6]. A study on traditional herbal remedies for diabetes may provide valuable leads for the development of alternative drugs and therapeutic strategies [6]. he popular hypoglycemic drug glucophage (metformin), for instance, is derived from Galega oicinalis [7] (Table 1). Since polyphenols possess multiple biological activities and constitute an important part of the human diet, they have recently emerged as critical phytochemicals in type 2 diabetes prevention and treatment. heir hypoglycemic action results from their antioxidative efect involved in recovering of altered antioxidant defenses and restoring insulin secreting machinery in pancreatic cells, or abilities to inhibit the activity of carbohydrates hydrolyzing enzymes (α-amylase and α-glucosidase) [4]. In addition, some lavonoids and polyphenols as well as sugar derivatives (acarbose) are found to be efective in inhibiting α-glucosidase [4,8-12]. herefore, discovery of α-glucosidase inhibitors from traditional plants is very helpful in the development of new anti- diabetic drugs. he objective of this research was to investigate the α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of the most widely anti-diabetic plants that used traditionally in Asia and Mediterranean regions for treatment of diabetes. Most of medicinal herbs evaluated in this study are used traditionally as anti- diabetic plants and were selected here on the basis of their use in traditional medicines throughout Asia and Mediterranean regions moreover they previously were found to induce hypoglycemic activity in experimental animals. hese plants are shown in Table 2. Extracts of these plants were tested for their inhibition of α -glucosidase. Moreover, the relationships between phenolic compounds and biological efects were investigated. Materials and Methods Materials Dry samples of selected plants were purchased in a local market, Al Ain, UAE. he authentications of the plants were carried out at the Herbarium of the Department of Biology, UAE University, Al Ain, Abstract Inhibition of α-glucosiase and the associated reduction of glucose absorption is an attractive approach for decreasing postprandial hyperglycemia and for the discovery of potent antidiabetic agents. One of the most important sources of potential α-glucosiase inhibitors represents the class of polyphenols. This paper aims to evaluate previous herbal polyphenol-rich extracts plan on the management of diabetes mellitus, to address their α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. Polyphenol-rich extracts from thirteen widely used traditionally anti-diabetic plants in Asia and Mediterranean regions were evaluated for their potential α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. Among these evaluated plants, 10 were much stronger than that of acarbose standard. Punica granatum manifested the highest inhibitory activity with IC 50 at 3.59 ± 0.11 µg/mL, followed by Psidium guajava with IC 50 at 8.08 ± 0.10 µg/mL and Cinnamomum zeylanicum with IC 50 at 9.87.08 ± 0.14 µg/mLA. A high correlation (r=0.65, p<0.001) was observed between α-glucosidase inhibition and total phenolic content of all plants. Punica granatum, P. guajava, C. zeylanicum and Ziziphus spina-christi had also the highest total phenolic content. Extracts for the above studied plant species may potentially replace acarbose in its current clinical use in improving post-prandial glycaemic control in type 2 diabetics. As a result, these polyphenol-rich extracts potentially offer a complementary approach to develop functional food and potential antidiabetic agents. *Corresponding author: Alaaeldin A. Hamza, Hormone Evaluation Department, National Organization for Drug Control and Research (NODCAR), Giza, Egypt, Tel: 20-01201991433; E-mail: alaa17mm@gmail.com Received November 16, 2015; Accepted November 30, 2015; Published December 07, 2015 Citation: Hamza AA, Ksiksi TS, Shamsi OAAl, Balfaqh SA (2015) α-Glucosidase Inhibitory Activity of Common Traditional Medicinal Plants Used for Diabetes Mellitus. J Develop Drugs 4: 144. doi:10.4172/2329-6631.1000144 Copyright: © 2015 Hamza AA, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits un- restricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. α-Glucosidase Inhibitory Activity of Common Traditional Medicinal Plants Used for Diabetes Mellitus Alaaeldin Ahmed Hamza 1 *, Taouik Saleh Ksiksi 2 , Obaid Ali Al Shamsi 2 and Salem Abobakr Balfaqh 2 1 Hormone Evaluation Department, National Organization for Drug Control and Research (NODCAR), Giza, Egypt 2 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, UAE University, Al Ain, UAE