Bridelia ferruginea found to inhibit carbohydrate metabolism and pancreatic oxidative stress

Nigerian researchers evaluated the antioxidant activities and inhibitory effects of Bridelia ferruginea (BF) leaf extracts on the in vitro activities of key enzymes involved in carbohydrate metabolism. They reported their findings in an article published in the Journal of Integrative Medicine.

• BF is a straggly tree commonly found in the savannah. Its leaves are said to be rich in phenolic compounds with various biological properties.
• For their experiments, the researchers obtained phenolic-rich extracts from BF leaves and quantified their total phenolic and flavonoid content.
• They then evaluated the antioxidant activities of the extracts using assays for ferric reducing antioxidant power, total antioxidant activity (phosphomolybdenum reducing ability), 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl and thiobarbituric acid reactive species.
• Finally, they evaluated the extracts’ ability to inhibit a-amylase and a-glucosidase activity.
• The researchers found that the total phenolic and flavonoid content of the free phenolic-rich extract was significantly larger than the bound phenolic-rich extract.
• The former also exhibited significantly greater antioxidant activity than the latter.
• In addition, the free phenolic-rich extract had a significantly greater inhibitory effect on a-glucosidase activity (IC50 = 28.5 mcg/mL) than the bound phenolic-rich extract (IC50 = 340 mcg/mL).
• However, the former had a significantly lower inhibitory effect against a-amylase (IC50 = 210 mcg/mL) than the latter (IC50 = 190 mcg/mL).

Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that the phenolic-rich extracts of B. ferruginea have potent antioxidant properties and can be used to inhibit key carbohydrate-metabolizing enzymes to control blood glucose levels.

Journal Reference:

Afolabi OB, Oloyede OI, Agunbiade SO. INHIBITORY POTENTIALS OF PHENOLIC-RICH EXTRACTS FROM BRIDELIA FERRUGINEA ON TWO KEY CARBOHYDRATE-METABOLIZING ENZYMES AND FE2+-INDUCED PANCREATIC OXIDATIVE STRESS. Journal of Integrative Medicine. May 2018;16(3): 192-198. DOI: 10.1016/j.joim.2018.04.006