Studies on Leaf Extracts as Inhibitors of Key Enzymes Linked to Diabetes Mellitus.

The side effects associated with the usage of synthetic antidiabetic drugs make it imperative to search for alternative drugs from medicinal plants. Therefore, this study was aimed at evaluating the α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory potential of leaf, as well as its possible mode of inhibiting these enzymes. Acetone, aqueous and ethanolic extracts of leaf was subjected to standard enzymes' inhibitory assay using porcine pancreatic α-amylase and rat intestinal α-glucosidase. Results obtained showed that out of all the extracts tested, ethanolic and aqueous extracts possessed the best inhibition of α-amylase (IC 7.80 mg/mL) and α-glucosidase (3.25 mg/mL) respectively. The kinetic analysis of the mode of inhibition of these enzymes by the leaf extracts of , revealed that these extracts inhibited both enzymes in a non-competitive manner. It is speculated that the α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory properties of leaf extracts of may be due to the presence of some phytochemicals such as flavonoids, tannins and saponins in the plant. It can be concluded from this study that the extracts could serve as source of antidiabetic agents which may act through the inhibition of carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzymes, α-amylase and α-glucosidase.