α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibitory activities from 41 herbs for diabetes

AIM:To screen α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibitors from 41 herbs for diabetes in clinic in order to establish enzyme mechanism. METHODS: The herb powder was refluxed by 50% ethanol twice,and then each part of extracts was partitioned successivelly with ethyl acetate and n-butanol after being condensed.Both ethyl acetate extract and n-butanol extract were used for assay for α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibitory activities. RESULTS: Most of these extracts of 41 herbs for diabetes showed inhibitory activities for α-glucosidase and α-amylase.The ethyl acetate fraction showed more effective and quite number of these extracts had higher inhibitory activities than Acarbose. CONCLUSION: Most of these herbs show inhibitory activities against α-glucosidase and α-amylase.It just matches the fact that these herbs can be used in the treatment of diabetes.