Coumarin-based Scaffold as α-glucosidase Inhibitory Activity: Implication for Development of Potent Antidiabetic Agents.

Delaying the absorption of glucose through α-glucosidase enzymes inhibition is one of the therapeutic approaches in the management of Type 2 diabetes, which can reduce the incidence of postprandial hyperglycemia. The existence of chronic postprandial hyperglycemia impaired the endogenous antioxidant defense due to inducing oxidative stress induced pancreatic β-cell destruction through uncontrolled free radicals generation such as ROS, which in turn, leads to various macrovascular and microvascular complications. The currently available α-glucosidase inhibitors, for instance, acarbose have some side effects such as hypoglycemia at higher doses, liver problems, meteorism, diarrhea, and lactic acidosis. Therefore, there is an urgent need to discover and develop potential α-glucosidase inhibitors in recent years. Based on such motifs, researchers are intrigued to search for the best scaffold that displays various biological activities. Among them, coumarin scaffold has attracted great attention, which can be isolated from various natural products and/or synthesized for the development of novel α-glucosidase inhibitors. Therefore, this review describes the applications of coumarin-containing derivatives based on published reports as α-glucosidase inhibitors and will be useful for innovative approaches in the search for novel coumarin-based antidiabetic drugs with less toxicity and more potency.