Int. J. Pharm. Sci. Rev. Res., 38(2), May – June 2016; Article No. 33, Pages: 173-180 ISSN 0976 – 044X International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Review and Research Available online at www.globalresearchonline.net © Copyright protected. Unauthorised republication, reproduction, distribution, dissemination and copying of this document in whole or in part is strictly prohibited. 173 Faten K. Abd El-Hady 1* , Mohamed S. Abdel-Aziz 2 , Kamel H. Shaker 3 , Zeinab A. El-Shahid 1 1 Chemistry of Natural Products Department, National Research Center, Egypt. 2 Department of Microbial Chemistry, National Research Center, Egypt. 3 Chemistry of Natural Compounds Department, National Research Center, Egypt. *Corresponding author’s E-mail: fatenkamal@hotmail.com Accepted on: 26-04-2016; Finalized on: 31-05-2016. ABSTRACT Marine ecosystems were considered as promising source for the isolation of skeletally and biologically unique compounds. From this point of view, we tried to isolate fungal strains associated with soft coral. In this respect, one promising fungal strain (SPMD) was isolated and molecularly identified as Aspergillus unguis SPMD-EGY. Fungi, under various culture conditions, were able to produce variable bioactive secondary metabolites. Three different broth media; Czapek-Dox medium, Potato dextrose medium and PYMG medium in addition to one solid medium (rice medium) were used for the cultivation of the fungus. The fungal extracts from the broth media (culture filtrate and mycelium under static and shake conditions) were tested for their potentiality to improve - glucosidase inhibitory activity. Fungal extract from solid medium(RS, rice medium), exhibited the highest inhibitory activity against -glucosidase enzyme activity (86%) followed by the fungal extract from PYMG medium, mycelia static extract(PY), with a percent of 81% compared to the drug (Acarbose, 43%). Fungal extract from mycelia shake culture of (PD) broth medium showed the lowest inhibitory effect of all tested media (49%). GC/MS analysis was performed on the highly active extracts. 35 compounds from PYMG medium and 33 from rice medium were identified. The saturated fatty acids represented 24% in (PY) extract, while in (RS), it was 14.4% only; hexadecanoic acid had the highest concentration in both extracts (18 and 10 %, respectively). The unsaturated fatty acids in both extracts represented (8 & 14 % respectively). Unsaturated fatty acids showed higher α-glucosidase inhibitory activity than the saturated fatty acids. Keywords: Corals, Aspergillus unguis SPMD-EGY, Media compositions, α-Glucosidase inhibitor, GC/MS analysis. INTRODUCTION he incidence and prevalence of type-II diabetes, representing over 90% of all case of diabetes, are increasing rapidly as time passes. The International Diabetes Federation predicted that the number of people with diabetes would rise from 266 million in 2011 to 552 million by 2030. 1 It is a clinical syndrome caused by genetic and environmental factors and characterized by high levels of blood glucose. Type-II diabetes mellitus (DM2) has been becoming a global health problem. 1 DM2 is a chronic disease with clinical manifestation of hyperglycemia, due to the insufficient release and/or inactive form of insulin that controls the level of blood glucose. 2 Various pharmacological approaches have been used to treat diabetes; one of the most beneficial therapies is to reduce the postprandial hyperglycemia. The absorption of glucose can be retarded by inhibiting the carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzymes; α-Amylase and α-glucosidase. 3 α- Glucosidase catalyzes the final step in the digestive process of carbohydrates and its inhibition can retard the uptake of dietary carbohydrates and suppress postprandial hyperglycemia and could be useful for treating diabetic patients. Enzyme inhibitors are now receiving increased attention, not only for studying the enzyme structure and reaction mechanism but also for pharmacological applications. 4 The development of new drugs for use against α- glucosidase is therefore urgently needed. Marine-derived fungi are treasure chest of secondary metabolites, of which a considerable number have promising biological or pharmaceutical properties. The hunt for discovering novel bioactive secondary metabolites from marine fungi is therefore gaining increased attention. 5 Marine fungi have attracted more attention for their good bioactivities against α-glucosidase. 6 Massive efforts have been made to investigate marine-derived compounds. Unique and stressful marine habitats have intense effects on fungal biological activity. 7 Recent studies revealed that the biosynthetic pathways of fungi can be activated and the chemical diversity of their metabolites can be maximized by alternating their cultivation parameters systematically, such as the components of the media, co-culture, feeding precursors and the addition of enzyme inhibitors. 8 Marine ecosystems were considered as promising sources for the isolation of different biological compounds with varying degree of effect including antitumor, anticancer and antibiotic. Until now, not all the marine environments were explored. So, they are considered as potent sources for the isolation of new microbes (bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, cyanobacteria and Effect of Media Composition on Potentiality Improving -Glucosidase Inhibitory Activity for the Soft Coral Associated Fungus Aspergillus unguis SPMD-EGY T Research Article