Antidiabetic and antioxidant potentials of Abelmoschus esculentus: In vitro combined with molecular docking approach

Abstract

This study was designed to determine the in vitro antidiabetics and antioxidant ability of Abelmoschus esculentus methanolic extract (MEAE) using α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition model. α-amylase and α-glucosidase binding interaction with MEAE was also determined by molecular docking. Methanolic extract of A. esculentus was prepared and then total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) was determined. TPC and TFC was 153 ± 38.82 mg GAE/g dw and 40.55 ± 4.409 mg QE/g dw respectively. For antioxidant potential, DPPH method was used. At concentrations of 31–1000 µg/mL MEAE showed scavenging percentage of DPPH radicals ranging from 1.618 to 13.487%. Enzymatic antioxidant activities by MEAE such as catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) showed their significant potentials with values of 3.99 ± 1.05, 1.27 ± 2.6 and 23.80 ± 0.03 U/mg protein respectively. At 50–200 µg/mL inhibition percentage of α-glucosidase and α-amylase ranged from 14.36 ± 0.099 to 19.23 ± 0.172% and 15.89 ± 1.877 to 37.19 ± 7.430% respectively. Yeast glucose uptake assay revealed that it showed glucose absorption which was directly proportional with concentration of extract and inversely proportional with the molar concentration of glucose. Maximum glucose uptake percentage by MEAE was 68.420 ± 1.752% at 3 mg/mL extract and 5 mM glucose concentration. In silico analysis, revealed that ligand molecule could bind with the α-glucosidase and α-amylase molecules. It can be concluded that A. esculentus is an important vegetable with a potent source of natural antioxidants as well as having potential antidiabetic activity thus justifying its traditional use in green therapeutics.

Keywords

• A. esculentus
• Molecular docking
• Enzymatic antioxidants
• α-Amylase
• α-Glucosidase