Isolation of stigmasterol from hexane extract of leaves of Pisonia grandis R.Br, in vitro anti-diabetic and its molecular docking studies

Abstract

Pisonia grandis R.Br belonging to the family Nyctaginaceae is a widely distributed evergreen tree in India known for its medicinal uses. The study was aimed to investigate the anti-diabetic property in the leaves of Pisonia grandis R.Br. The isolation and purification were performed by the conventional column chromatography and the resultant yield was found to be a white crystalline powder, which was further subjected for characterisation through IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and mass spectroscopy. From the characterisation data, the isolated compound was identified as stigmasterol; it was first time isolated from the hexane extract of the leaves. The α-amylase inhibitory activity of stigmasterol from the hexane extract of the leaves of Pisonia grandis R.Br showed high potent activity with an IC50  value of 46 μg/mL. The anti-diabetic activity of the compound against α-amylase and four other diabetic enzymes- α-glucosidase, acid phosphatase, endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase  and β-glucuronidase were further investigated by molecular docking studies and proved that stigmasterol can be a potential anti-diabetic agent.