IDENTIFYING ANTI-DIABETIC POTENTIAL OF ALPHA-AMYLASE INHIBITORS IN OCIMUM BASILICUM USING IN VITRO AND IN SILICO APPROACHES

Type 2 Diabetes (T2D), a chronic metabolic disorder and the most common type of diabetes, is caused by reduced insulin secretion or insulin resistance in the body, leading to ineffective glucose uptake by the cells and eventually resulting in hyperglycemia. Metformin, sulfonylureas, and glitazones are the currently available commercial drugs used to treat T2D. These drugs either reduce the blood glucose level or elevate the insulin produced. However, the high cost, unavailability, and various side effects occurring from the use of these drugs have resulted in people looking for healthier and cost-effective ways to treat this disorder, including the use of plant extracts. This study highlights the alpha-amylase inhibition properties of Ocimum basilicum (basil) extracts through in vitro qualitative and quantitive inhibition assays. It also focuses on in silico approaches such as molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation to determine the strength of the alpha-amylase inhibition. In vitro study revealed 1:20 diluted ethanolic, methanolic, and aqueous extracts of O. basilicum strongly inhibited salivary amylase. In silico analysis revealed Gamma Sitosterol, a compound present in relative abundance in O. basilicum, could be one of the phytocompounds responsible for this anti-diabetic property of O. basilicum. Thus, Gamma Sitosterol can be used as a potential therapeutic for T2D alongside other measures such as physical exercise and diet because the findings in this paper, although pertaining to human salivary amylase, can be extrapolated to human pancreatic amylase as salivary amylase and pancreatic amylase are known isoenzymes and share ~97% sequence homology.