March-April 2019 Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 282 Research Paper The formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications like nephropathy, neuropathy and retinopathy [1] . AGEs are formed as a result of non-enzymatic reaction of sugars with proteins by the Maillard reaction after undergoing multiple steps [2] . The Maillard reaction has been described in the early 1900s when it was noted that amino acids heated in the presence of reducing sugar developed a characteristic yellow brown colour through a series of reactions forming Schiff bases and Amadori product [3] . These reaction series is subdivided into three main stages, early, intermediate, and last stage. In the early stage, glucose, fructose, pentoses, galactose, mannose and xylulose react with a free amino group to form an unstable compound, the Schiff base, which undergoes a rearrangement to a more stable product known as Amadori product. In the intermediate stage, the Amadori product degrades to a variety of reactive dicarbonyl compounds such as glyoxal, methylglyoxal (MGO), and deoxy-glucosones via dehydration, oxidation and other chemical reactions. In the last stage of glycation, irreversible compounds called AGEs are formed through oxidation, dehydration and cyclization reactions [4] . The AGEs are yellow-brown, fuorescent and insoluble adducts that accumulate on long-lived proteins thus impairing their physiological functions. Aminoguanidine (AG), an inhibitor of advanced glycation reactions in vitro, has been found to inhibit the development of diabetic complications in animal models of diabetes [5] . Inhibition of AGEs was used to treat diabetic complications without much success, perhaps due to relatively lower effcacy, poor pharmacokinetics and toxicity [6] . Studies reported the use of medicinal plants as antiglycation compounds instead of the standard drug AG [7] . In our laboratory, various medicinal plants such as Moringa oleifera, Ficus benghalensis and Morus indica (MI) varieties have been screened for proximate Bioactive Compounds from Morus indica as Inhibitors of Advanced Glycation End Products S. ANANDAN AND ASNA UROOJ* DOS in Food Science and Nutrition, Manasagangotri, University of Mysore, Mysuru-570 006, India Anandan and Urooj: Morus indica as Inhibitors of Advanced Glycation End Products The present study aimed at identifying the active antiglycation constituents of G4 variety of Morus indica leaves. The bioactive compounds of G4 were identifed and quantifed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectroscopy, isolated by preparative high performance liquid chromatography and characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance and scanning electron microscopy. Based on results of the ultra-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectroscopy, extract with maximum bioactive compounds was chosen to study antiglycation property at different stages. The 80 % methanol extract of Morus indica leaves showed presence of 4 compounds, chlorogenic acid, ferulic acid, rutin and apigenin of which apigenin showed the maximum yield. This is the frst report on the isolation of apigenin from the leaves of Morus indica G4 variety. Results obtained indicated that Morus indica leaf extract inhibited formation of advanced glycation end products. Also, scanning electron microscopy images indicated the protective effect against the formation of acanthocytes. These results provided evidence for the antiglycation effects of Morus indica leaves and suggested a potential role in management of diabetic complications. Key words: Morus indica, Moraceae, δ-gluconolactone, bovine serum albumin, methylglyoxal, N-acetylglycyl- lysine methyl ester (GK) peptide *Address for correspondence E-mail: asnaurooj@foodsci.uni-mysore.ac.in This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms Accepted 07 February 2019 Revised 10 September 2018 Received 25 January 2018 Indian J Pharm Sci 2019;81(2):282-292