alpha-Glucosidase inhibitory activity of the methanolic extract from Tournefortia hartwegiana: an anti-hyperglycemic agent.

Tournefortia hartwegiana is a Mexican medicinal plant that is used for the treatment of diabetes, diarrhea and kidney pain. In a previous investigation, the methanolic extract of Tournefortia hartwegiana (METh) showed significant hypoglycemic and anti-diabetic properties on normoglycemic and alloxanized rats. In this context, the purpose of the present study was to establish one of the possible modes of action of METh to induce anti-diabetic activity. METh (310mg/kg) effect on alpha-glucosidase activity was investigated. METh intragastric administration was conducted to determine oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), using different substrates: glucose, sucrose and maltose. The increase in plasma glucose level was significantly suppressed (P<0.05) by the extract after substrates administration. On the other hand, METh inhibited alpha-glucosidase activity in vitro, in a concentration-dependent manner (IC(50) of 3.16mg/mL). These results suggest that METh might exert its anti-diabetic effect by suppressing carbohydrate absorption from intestine, and thereby reducing the post-prandial increase of blood glucose. On the other hand, the bio-guided fractionation of this extract led to the isolation of: beta-sitosterol (1), stigmasterol (2), lupeol (3), ursolic acid (4), oleanolic acid (5), saccharose (6) and myo-inositol (7), using various chromatographic techniques.