In silico and in vitro assessment on antidiabetic efficacy of secondary metabolites from Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels

Abstract

India ranks high for prevalence of diabetes and the treatment of diabetes without any side effects is still challenging. Though herbal remedies help reduce the side effect, proper standardization of phytochemical which prove as a bioactive compound, its proper dose and clinical trials are lacking. In our investigation, we studied the binding mechanism of the secondary metabolites of Syzygium cumini, their in vitro antidiabetic activity and the number of phytochemicals present. In silico study revealed that ellagic acid has a potential to modulate the carbohydrate metabolizing enzyme activity showing higher affinity for the enzymes with much lesser binding energy, -4.73 kcal/mol for alpha amylase, -4.87 kcal/mol for beta-glucosidase, -4.79 kcal/mol for glycogen synthase kinase, -4.18 kcal/mol for glucokinase and -4.49 kcal/mol for alpha-glucosidase. In vitro-Alpha amylase inhibitory activity assay showed that ethanol extract has the highest value of percent inhibition (73.33%) as compared to standard drug Acarbose (65.99%). Finally, TLC analysis cleared that ethanol extract contains five compounds one of which may be a bioactive compound, ellagic acid. Further purification and characterization of the ellagic acid is needed.