Sunil Kumar, Vipin Kumar, Monika Rana and Dinesh Kumar
Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India
Pharmacognosy Communications,2012,2,2,18-33
DOI: 10.5530/pc.2012.2.4
Published:April 2012
Type: Reveiw Article
ABSTRACT
Diabetes is one of the major medical complications the world faces today. It is a common metabolic disease characterized by abnormally high plasma glucose levels, leading to major complications such as diabetic neuropathy, retinopathy, and cardiovascular diseases. The management of blood glucose levels is a critical strategy in the control of diabetes complications. Inhibitors of carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzymes (such as α-glucosidase and α-amylase) have been useful as oral drugs for the control of hyperglycemia, especially in patients with type II diabetes mellitus. Other enzymes such as DPP4, aldose reductase and angiotensin converting enzyme also play an important role in diabetes. Inhibition of these factors plays an important role in management of diabetes. Various research studies have been performed to examine the effectiveness of natural sources as the inhibitors of all these enzymes. In the present review, we discuss the various constituents isolated from plants which have inhibitory properties against these enzymes.
KEY WORDS: diabetes, flavonoids, α-glucosidase, α-amylase, DDP4, ACE inhibitor