Fractionation of Averrhoa bilimbi hexane extract corresponding to brown adipocytes stimulation

Abstract

Averrhoa bilimbi is a fast-growing tree widely found in countries of tropical Asia. Due to easy accessibility and traditional knowledge, various parts of this plant are adopted as folk medicine and a natural health remedy. Recently, beneficial effects of bilimbi in combating obesity including its potential antihyperlipidemic and hypoglycemic activities have been discovered. This paper reports the successive extraction, partitioning and fractionation of bioactive compounds from the leaf of bilimbi that corresponds to brown adipocyte activation. In this study, the bilimbi crude ethanolic extract underwent bioassay-guided partitioning with increading polarity namely n-hexane (n-Hex), ethyl acetate (EtOAc), n-butanol (n-BuOH) and aqueous (H2O). The n-hexane partition extract exhibited highest brown adipogenesis potential via adipomyocytes differentiation. Further fractionation of this active partition extract yielded 10 fractions. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS was used to analyse the chemical constituents of active fractions.