Antidiabetic Properties of Hydroalcoholic Leaf and Stem Extract of Levisticum officinale: An implication for α-amylase Inhibitory Activity of Extract Ingredients through Molecular Docking

Levisticum officinale (Apiaceae) is a favorite food spice. Iranian folk medicine claims that it has a prominent antidyslipidemic property but this is not documented scientifically so far. This study evaluated antidyslipidemic and the other antidiabetic aspects of the stem and leaf hydroalcoholic extract of it (LOE). Regarding oral glucose tolerance test results, LOE (500 mg/kg) administration 30 min before glucose loading significantly decreased the blood glucose level (13%) at 90 min in male rats. Additionally, LOE treatment (500 mg/kg, orally, once a day) for 14 days significantly reduced the serum glucose level (24.97%) and markedly improved the lipid profile and the insulin, creatinine, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase serum levels in diabetic rats. Moreover, LOE effectively amended the impaired antioxidant status and ameliorated lipid peroxidation in the plasma and pancreas and liver tissues of diabetics. Also, 14 days LOE treatment, significantly decreased the renal sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 and facilitated glucose transporter 2 (GLUT₂) mRNA levels and GLUT₂ gene expression in the enterocytes of jejunum tissue in comparison with diabetic untreated rats. HPLC method revealed the presence of chlorogenic acid, rosmarinic acid, caffeic acid, quercetin and luteolin and GC-MS analysis detected bioactive compounds like phthalides, thymol, phytol, hexanoic acid, carene and menthofuran. LOE showed α-amylase (αΑ) inhibitory activity and in silico studies predicted that among extract ingredients luteolin, quercetin, rosmarinic, caffeic, and hexanoic acids have the greatest αΑ inhibition potecy. Thus, current results justify antidyslipidemic value of L. officinale and shed light on more antidiabetic health benefits of it.

Keywords: Antioxidants; Diabetes mellitus; Glucose transporters; Levisticum officinale; Molecular docking; Phytochemicals.