Lipase inhibitory activity of Carica papaya, Chrysophyllum cainito, Corcorus olitorius, Cympogon citrates and Syzygium cumini extracts

Abstract

The lipase inhibitory action of Carica papaya, Chrysophyllum cainito, Corcorus olitorius, Cymbopogon citrates and Syzygium cumini were evaluated to explore for the presence of anti-obesity compounds and their potential weight-lowering activity. Enzyme inhibition results of the alcoholic extracts of the five plants showed that C. cainito has the highest percent inhibition at 74.91% while S. cumini, C. citratus, C. olitorius and C. papaya obtained less than 50% average inhibition. C. cainito was partitioned using hexane and ethyl acetate to further concentrate the bioactive compounds. The lipase inhibition assay of hexane and ethyl acetate extracts showed 92.11% inhibition and 21.9% inhibition, respectively. The greater activity in the former may imply that majority of potential anti-lipase constituents are found in the hexane portion.

Keywords

• Obesity
• Plant extracts