Attached
Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. commonly known
as jackfruit belongs to die family Moiaceae. Diabetes
mellitus is a global health problem where every seven
seconds one person dies and 11% o f worldwide
healthcare expenditure is used to treat diabetes and its
complications.1 In traditional medicine of Sri Lanka the
water extract of A. heterophyllus senescent leaves is
used to reduce the blood sugar level. This extract has
been shown to significantly lower the fasting blood
sugar level and markedly improved glucose tolerance
in Sprague-Dawley rats as well as normal human
subjects and diabetic patients.2*3 H ie ethyl acetate
soluble fraction of the water extract o f senescent leaves
of A. heterophyllus (named as EA/W) has been shown
to possess higher hypoglycemic greater than that of
tolbutamide, a sulphonyl urea drug commonly used for
treatment ofhyperglycemia.4
In this study die EA/W was tested for its in vitro
antioxidant activity, antiglycation activity and aglucosidase inhibitory activity. The EA/W was tested
for its antioxidant activity using 2,2-Diphenyl-lpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay, the
antiglycation activity using Bovine Serum Albumin
(BSA) - methy%lyoxal (MGO) fluorescent based
assay and a- glucosidase inhibitory activity using aghicosidase enzyme inhibition assay3.
In the DPPH radical scavenging activity EA/W
showed moderate radical scavenging activity with an
ICM value of 29.3 ± 0.7 pg/mL while gallic acid had an ICso value of 23.5 ± 0.4 pg/mL. In the a-glucosidase
inhibition assay EA/W showed an IC50 value of 1.9 ± 0.6
pg/mL while the standard drug acarbose showed an
ICs, value of 0.5 ± 0.01 pg/mL. The antiglycation
activity was low, giving an inhibition of 44% at 0.5
mg/mL, compared with the standard rutin gave an
inhibition o f 85% in 1 mM (0.6 mg/mL).
These results indicate that the hypoglyceamic
activity of A. heterophyllus senescent leaves, may be
partly due to a - glucosidase inhibiting activity. Further
its antioxidant activity and antiglycation activity (even
though lower than rutin) may contribute to reducing the
complication arising due to diabetes mellitus.
