Marine Drugs and Natural Products

Biography

Biography: Fatma U Afifi-Yazar

Abstract

In the recent decades complementary/alternative/integrative medicine flourished and lead to the renaissance of nutritional, clinical and scientific interest in plants' potential as preventive/therapeutic agents in the management/treatment of chronic diseases. Worldwide and in Jordan, the prevalence of type-2 diabetes (T2DM) and obesity has reached alarming proportions. In the Jordanian traditional medicine, Crataegus aronia L. and Adiantum capillus-veneris L. are two of the edible/medicinal plants used for the treatment of T2DM. The present study gives an overview of anti-diabesity plants of Jordan and discusses the LC-MS evaluation of the crude extract and in vitro and in vivo evaluation of different biological activities of A. capillus-veneris to evidence its claimed pharmacological potential. HPLC-MS analyses revealed the presence of ellagic acid (5.48 mg/g), rutin (4.77 mg/g), quercetin-3-O-glucoside (3.96 mg/g), ferulic acid (3.88 mg/g), gallic acid (3.44 mg/g), caffeic acid (1.55 mg/g), epicatechine (1.34 mg/g) and quercetine (0.43 mg/g). Hypocholesterolemic efficacy was evaluated in 10-weeks high-cholesterol-diet (HCD) fed rats and compared to atorvastatin. A. capillus veneris aqueous extract (500mg/kg body weight) decreased highly significantly the total cholesterol (TC) and low density lipoproteins (LDL) in HCD-fed rats. Additionally, atherogenic index parameter of TC/HDL was normalized in A. capillus veneris-treated rats. Moreover, the plant extracts’ and some of the identified constituents’ role in modulating gastrointestinal carbohydrate and lipid digestion and absorption were demonstrated. The results indicate that A. capillus-veneris can be considered a potential candidate for the management of hypercholesterolemia, obesity and diabetes.