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Abstract
Diabetes mellitus represents a major global health challenge, with over 800 million adults affected worldwide and limited therapeutic options, particularly in resource-constrained settings. This study investigated the in vitro antidiabetic properties of crude ethanol extract and solvent fractions of roots of Tetracera alnifolia, a medicinal plant traditionally used for managing diabetes in West Africa particularly Nigeria. The aim was to evaluate the alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase inhibitory activities of the plant extracts and fractions, and to determine their potential as natural antidiabetic agents. The roots of T. alnifolia were cut, dried, pulverized and extracted using ethanol. The crude extract was subsequently fractionated using solvents of increasing polarity (n-hexane, chloroform, dichloromethane, n-butanol, and water). Enzyme inhibition assays were performed using standard methods, with acarbose as the control. The IC₅₀ values were calculated to determine inhibitory potency. Results showed that the crude extract exhibited remarkable alpha-glucosidase inhibitory activity (IC₅₀ = 0.10 mg/mL), approximately 9-fold more than the IC₅₀ of acarbose (IC₅₀ = 0.93 mg/mL). For alpha-amylase inhibition, the crude extract (IC₅₀ = 0.68 mg/mL) was less than that of acarbose (IC₅₀ = 0.46 mg/mL). All solvent fractions similarly outperformed acarbose in alpha-glucosidase inhibition, with the n-hexane fraction showing the strongest activity (IC₅₀ = 0.19 mg/mL). The superior performance of the crude extract over individual fractions provided compelling evidence for synergistic interactions among multiple phytochemical constituents. The differential selectivity potent alpha-glucosidase inhibition with moderate alpha-amylase inhibition represents an ideal therapeutic profile that may offer a better postprandial glucose control. The study concludes that T. alnifolia possesses antidiabetic potential in vitro and this may be responsible for its hypoglycemic property in treatment of diabetes in traditional medicine. Therefore, further investigation through in vivo studies, phytochemical characterization, and determination of bioactive agent for potential development as a natural antidiabetic therapeutic.
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