Screening of α-Glucosidase Inhibitory Activity from Some Plants of Apocynaceae, Clusiaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and Rubiaceae

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is recognized as a serious global health problem that is characterized by high blood sugar levels. Type 2 DM is more common in diabetic populations. In this type of DM, inhibition of α-glucosidase is a useful treatment to delay the absorption of glucose after meals. As a megabiodiversity country, Indonesia still has a lot of potential unexploited forests to be developed as a medicine source, including as the α-glucosidase inhibitor. In this study, we determine the α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of 80% ethanol extracts of leaves and twigs of some plants from the Apocynaceae, Clusiaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and Rubiaceae. Inhibitory activity test of the α-glucosidase was performed in vitro using spectrophotometric methods. Compared with the control acarbose (IC(50) 117.20 μg/mL), thirty-seven samples of forty-five were shown to be more potent α-glucosidase inhibitors with IC(50) values in the range 2.33–112.02 μg/mL.