Abstract:
Alpha glucosidase is a potential target enzyme in the management of diabetes mellitus. Diabetes
mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder caused by defect in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both.
Insulin deficiency as such results to a chronic hyperglycemia with disturbances of carbohydrate, fat and
protein metabolism. The current work studied the in vitro inhibitory potentials of stem bark extracts of
Albizia lebbeck on yeast α-glucosidase activity using p-nitrophenyl-α-D-glucopyronaside (PNPG) as
substrate. The Stem Bark of Albizia lebbeck was collected from the university premises of Usmanu
Danfodiyo University Sokoto Nigeria. The stem bark was extracted with methanol and further with
hexane and ethyl acetate fractions using separation funnel. Crude α-glucosidase was obtained from
yeast (Saccharomyces cereviceae). The hexane and methanol extracts were tested for inhibitory
potentials on α-glucosidase and the IC50 was calculated. The results indicated that at 10, 30 and
50mg/ml, the hexane extract caused 20.65, 36.52 and 61.96% reduction in the activity of α-glucosidase
respectively. The methanol extract on the other hand inhibited the activity of the enzyme by 14.36,
24.30 and 31.29% respectively. The IC50 was calculated for the hexane and methanol extracts to be 1.68
and 2.92mg/ml respectively. The results of this study therefore concluded that hexane and methanol
extracts of Albizia lebbeck stem bark possesses significant inhibitory effect on α-glucosidase in a dose
dependant manner and may therefore have potentials as a source of lead for the development of antidiabetic drugs.
