Antidiabetic and antioxidant potency evaluation of different fractions obtained from Cucumis prophetarum fruit.

Context: Cucumis prophetarum Linn. (Cucurbitaceae) fruit is used for inflammatory-related problems and is proved to be possessing anticancer and hepatoprotective effects.

Objective: The present investigation was to study the effect of different fractions of C. prophetarum on antidiabetic and antioxidant activity.

Materials And Methods: Aqueous crude extract (CE) of C. prophetarum fruits was fractionated into water soluble fraction 1 (F1), chloroform fraction 2 (F2), basic fraction 3 (F3), and neutral fraction 4 (F4) by acid-base extraction. CE and its fractions at different doses (0.02-0.1 mg/mL) were subjected to antidiabetic (α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition assays) and antioxidant (DPPH, superoxide radical scavenging (SO) and metal chelation) evaluation.

Results: F1 exhibited effective antidiabetic activity (p < 0.05) with an IC50 value of 20.6 and 59.9 µg/mL. The activity decreased in the order of CE > F4 > F3 > F2, according to α-amylase assay, which were the same, with the exception of the rank order of F4 and CE, as the α-glucosidase assay. Furthermore, F1 (IC50 = 73 µg/mL) showed better reducing ability than CE >F4 >F2 > F3 (IC50 = 78-272 µg/mL), according to the DPPH assay. In SO and metal chelation assays, F1 showed the highest activity (IC50 = 101 and 147 µg/mL), respectively; the activity decreased in the order of CE >F4 >F3 > F2 (IC50 = 126-469 µg/mL) for SO and 194-944 µg/mL for metal chelation assay.

Conclusion: The results indicate that F1 possesses potent in vitro antidiabetic and antioxidant activities.