Fusion, Micronization and Bio-activated (FMB) extract of Gymnema sylvestre for higher antidiabetic and antioxidant effects compared to its conventional standardized extract

Abstract

Abstract Despite considerable studies, diabetes continues to remain a challenge for its prevention and management with an increasing rate of morbidity and mortality. One of the popular herbal extracts - Gymnema sylvestre has been extensively studied for its anti-diabetic potential. The present study aimed to explore the in vitro antidiabetic and antioxidant effects of Gymnema sylvetsre (Gudmar; GD) and also reveal its drug-likeness, toxicity and action mechanism by utilizing in silico molecular docking and network pharmacology, respectively. The elemental analysis confirmed that FMB technology successfully replenishes iron, zinc and calcium in the conventional extract which is devoid of these essential trace elements. GD extract-FMB (IC50 = 131.90 ± 0.44) are more effective as compared to conventional GD extract in the case of α-amylase (IC50 = 118.23 ± 0.42; IC50 = 109.52 ± 0.34) and α-glucosidase (IC50 = 109.52 ± 0.34), respectively while a similar effect was observed in DPPH-free radical scavenging (IC50 = 129.2 ± 0.98) of GD extract-FMB as compared to GD extract (IC50 = 176.6 ± 0.51). Network pharmacology revealed that key target proteins that are strongly linked to iron, zinc and calcium were strongly involved in glucose metabolism, oxo-inflammatory responses and insulin-related pathways. In addition, in silico molecular docking results of gymnemic acid against α-amylase and α-glucosidase revealed strong biological bindings. Conclusively, based on the finding we can conclude that FMB technique replenish the ETEs in the conventional extract. Also FMB processing is beneficial and provides a innovative solution for the herbal pharmaceutical industry to develop better efficacious extracts or herbal formulations.