In vitro inhibitory effect of selected parts of Moringa oleifera against the formation of major types of advanced glycation end-products

Crude extracts of different parts of Moringa oleifera are extensively used in African traditional medicine to manage and treat a plethora of human ailments. However, there is little or no information regarding the use of M. oleifera extracts against the formation of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs). AGEs are implicated in the development of vascular complications of diabetes mellitus, other age-related and neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. We investigated the effects of crude leaf, seed and root extracts of M. oleifera on the formation of major types of AGEs. Hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol and aqueous extracts of the leaf, seed and root parts of M. oleifera and standard inhibitor aminoguanidine were incubated with a bovine serum albumin (BSA)-glucose mixture at 37 degrees C for 20 days. The amounts of fluorescent AGEs (FAGEs), total immunogenic AGEs (TIAGEs) and N.(carboxymethyl)lysine (CML) were determined and the percentage inhibitory activity of each plant extract calculated. Only the methanol and aqueous extracts of all M. oleifera parts demonstrated anti-glycation effects against FAGEs while extracts from all plant parts exhibited significantly higher anti-glycation effects than standard inhibitor aminoguanidine against TIAGEs. For CML, the methanol extract of all plant parts was found to have an effect comparable to aminoguanidine. The findings suggest that crude extracts from various parts of the M. oleifera plant, especially the polar contents have the ability to inhibit the formation of various types of AGEs.