SCREENING OF PLANT-DERIVED HYPOGLYCEMIC AND ANTICANCER BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS

Diabetes and cancer diseases have a tremendous impact on health worldwide with a strong evidence of common risk factors. This study investigated the chemical composition, antidiabetic and anticancer activities of the Terfezia claveryi and Gundelia tournefortii aqueous extracts prepared by maceration, decoction, infusion and microwave-assisted techniques. Plants extracts phytochemical profiles were analyzed using UPLC-MS. In vitro alpha-glucosidase inhibitory effect, in vivo antidiabetic activities using normal, diabetes induced streptozotocin and diabetes induced alloxan-high-fat/high-cholesterol diet mice models were evaluated. Results showed inhibition for alpha glucosidase from Terfezia and Gundelia microwaved-assisted, macerated, infused and decocted extracts with IC50 values 2.43±0.30, 3.26±0.74, 5.18±0.74, 3.31±0.76, mg/mL, respectively for Terfezia and 1.68 ±0.33, 4.24±0.8, 2.21±0.60, 1.77 ±0.74, mg/mL, respectively from Gundelia.  Interestingly, all Terfezia extracts at a dose of 500 mg/kg showed significant change in blood glucose level (BGL) after four and six hours post treatment in normal mice. In streptozotocin diabetes induced model, the lowest reduction in BGL (52.9%) was observed after four hours for the microwave-assisted Terfezia extract at 100 mg/kg dose. All Terfezia claveryi extracts at 250 mg/kg showed a significant reduction in hyperglycemia after 4 and 6 hours when 500mg/kg dose was administered to alloxan-high fat diet diabetic mice post-treatment compared to the negative control.

All Gundelia tournefortii extracts showed no antiproliferative activities against cancer and fibroblast cells. Whereas Terfezia claveryi macerated and microwave-assisted extracts showed a mild antiproliferative effect against Caco-2 cells (27.01%, 11.44%) and fibroblast cells (5.8%, 4.7%) respectively. The phytochemical profiling revealed the presence of flavonoids, saponins and terpenes. The antidiabetic activity may be attributable to these phytochemicals present in the both plant extracts. In conclusion, these results justify the traditional medicinal uses of both plants as blood glucose-lowering agents..