Bioactivity of diosmetin glycosides isolated from the epicarp of date fruits, Phoenix dactylifera, on the biochemical profile of alloxan diabetic male rats.

The new natural flavonoid compounds - diosmetin 7-O-β-L-arabinofuranosyl (1 → 2) β-D-apiofuranoside (1) and diosmetin 7-O-β-D-apiofuranoside (2) - were isolated from the acetone extract of date fruits epicarp belonging to family Arecaceae (Palmae). Elucidation of their chemical structures was determined by different spectroscopic methods in addition to the chemical and physical methods of analysis. These compounds were assessed for their biological activity on alloxan diabetic rats. A dose of 1.5 ml of (1) and (2) suspensions/100 gm b. wt were orally administrated to alloxan diabetic rats for 30 days. The treatment of diabetic rats with these compounds resulted in marked improvement of the different biochemical results, i.e. the serum glucose level (highly significant, from 330 + 5.5 mg/dL to 140 + 1.2 mg/dL) treated with (1); liver functions markedly developed both by AST and ALT levels, (reduced significantly from 68.3 + 4.8 μ/L to 54 + 5.5 μ/L and from 61.0 + 3.6 μ/L to 40.1 + 3.6 μ/L, respectively) treated with (2), accompanying with mild decrease in both cholesterol and triglycerides levels with (1) or (2). Decrease of TBARS level was observed in whole blood when treated with (1) or (2), while levels of glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase were increased in liver. Serum testosterone level was highly significantly increased (from 705.1 + 3.6 mg/100 ml to 720 + 4.7 mg/100 ml), total acid phosphatase and prostate acid phosphatase activities were highly significantly decreased (from 16.9 + 0.28 μ/L to 10.7 + 1.2 μ/L and from 9.7 + 0.7 μ/L to 6.5 + 1 μ/L, respectively) for compound (1).