Alpha-glucosidase inhibitory and antioxidant activities of various extracts of aerial parts of Fagonia indica Burm. F.

Purpose: To investigate in vitro antioxidant and anti-diabetic potentials of Fagonia indica Burm. f. Var. indica in order to provide scientific evidence for its traditional use. Methods: Cold maceration method was employed for the preparation of extracts of aerial parts of the plant using chloroform, n-hexane, methanol and water as solvents. Total flavonoid and polyphenolic content of various extracts were determined by standard methods. The antioxidant and anti-diabetic activities of the extracts were determined using 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and in vitro alpha-glucosidase (maltase) inhibitory assays, respectively. Results: Preliminary results indicated the presence of various phytochemicals in the extracts. The chloroform extract exhibited the highest contents of total flavonoids (65.98 +/- 1.63 mg QE/g) and polyphenols (26.75 +/- 1.09 mg GAE/g). This extract also showed the highest free radical scavenging (64.74 +/- 1.43 %) with IC50 value of 34.18 +/- 5.57 mu g/mL while the methanol extract exerted the highest alpha-glucosidase (maltase) inhibitory activity (45.22 +/- 0.46 %) with half-maximal concentration (IC50) of 220.4 +/- 0.41 mu g/mL. Conclusion: The extracts of the aerial parts of Fagonia indica possess significant anti-diabetic and antioxidant effect, thus justifying the traditional use of the plant for treatment of diabetes.