Abstract

Plants extracts that are capable of inhibiting carbohydrate-hydrolyzing enzymes such as α-glucosidase and α-amylase can be employed to reduce diabetes which triggers glucose elevation and subsequent oxidative stress. In this study, the inhibitory activity of the methanolic leaf extracts of Momordica charantia and Morinda citrifolia using two enzyme inhibitory assays (α-amylase and α-glucosidase) were determined. The extracts of M. charantia was found to have the highest anti-diabetic activity with an average α-glucosidase inhibition value of 59.00 ± 8.07% at 2.5 mg/mL. No activity was observed with the extract of M. citrifolia for the α-glucosidase assay. For the α-amylase, the highest inhibition value (24.56 ± 1.21%) was observed with the extract of M. charantia at the concentration of 10 mg/mL. The result obtained from this study may strengthen the scientific proof on the medicinal values of the plant extract.

Key words: Anti-diabetic, α-amylase, α-glucosidase, Momordica charantia, Morinda citrifolia