Alpha-Amylase and Urease Inhibitory Activity of Leaf Extracts of Prunus persica (L.) Batsch

Abstract

The use of herbal remedies for curing diseases is on the rise in developed aswell as developing countries. The current study was undertaken toinvestigate the leaf extracts of Prunus persica (L.) Batsch for their inhibitoryactivity against α-amylase and urease enzymes in three different solventsi.e. methanol, acetone and aqueous. The plant showed highest α- amylaseenzyme inhibition (75.08±0.28%) at a concentration of 1 mg/mL in methanolextract whereas acetone and aqueous extracts showed moderate inhibitionagainst α- amylase (59.95±1.25 and 50.00±1.00%respectively). In case ofurease inhibition, methanol extract exhibited best inhibitory activity(55.08±0.28%) followed by acetone and aqueous extracts at a concentrationof 1 mg/mL. The plant extracts showed concentration dependent inhibitionof both the enzymes. The inhibitory activity altogether increased withincreasing concentration of each plant extract in the range of 0.2-1.0 mg/mL.Moreover, the plant was found more effective against α-amylase thanurease. The results further revealed that methanol leaf extracts displayedmaximum inhibitory effects than other solvent extracts which tends to showthat the active metabolites of the different plant parts are better extractedwith methanol than other solvents. Thus the present study providesscientific evidence to the traditional uses of this plant in the treatment ofdiabetes, obesity, gastric intestinal infections, ulcers, kidney stones etc.Therefore, the leaf extracts of P. persica can be selected for furtherinvestigation to discover their ultimate therapeutic potential.