Evaluation of Pharmacological Properties of Untapped Natural Flora for Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), a kind of Diabetes Mellitus (DM), is emerging as a challenging global epidemic. Genetic predisposition, sedentary lifestyle, imbalanced diet, and obesity play a major role in the development of T2DM. Antioxidant assays like DPPH and FRAP were conducted to evaluate and compare the antioxidant potential of C. diurnum ethanolic extract with ascorbic acid, along with protein denaturation inhibition assay to determine its anti-inflammatory activity in comparison to Ansaid. Alpha amylase inhibition assay was performed to estimate anti-diabetic effect of this extract with reference to acarbose. Hemolytic toxicity was also determined to calculate the safe dosage for consumption as a possible drug candidate. HUB genes were shortlisted through cytoHubba algorithms, and 2 top scoring genes were selected i.e., JNK-1 and AKT-1. ADME/T and hERG, CYPs filters were used to remove potential toxic compounds from GC-MS resulting plant compounds list and 6 possible drug candidates were obtained. 2 of these compounds, 1H-Pyrazole-1-acetic acid, 5-amino-3,4-dicyano-, ethyl ester and dl-4-Phenyl-dl-glutamic acid, showed promising docking and simulation results with JNK-1 and AKT-1, respectively. Commercial inhibitors were also subjected to similar conditions to compare plant compounds’ activity with already known inhibitors. This showed dl-4-Phenyl-dl-glutamic acid to have similar binding affinity for AKT-1 as its inhibitor while 1H-Pyrazole-1-acetic acid, 5-amino-3,4-dicyano-, ethyl ester showed slightly lesser affinity to JNK-1 than the inhibitor. Further testing is required to check these compounds for their efficiency as drug candidates against these proteins for the treatment of T2DM