Purpose: To investigate the inhibitory effects of various ratios of polysaccharides/ alkaloids from the
rhizome of
Coptis chinensis
Franch (RCC) on α-glucosidase.
Methods: The polysaccharides (PSD) and alkaloids (ALK) from RCC were prepared using the water
extraction and alcohol precipitation method and Reinecke’s salt precipitation method, respectively.
Subsequently, the α-glucosidase inhibitory effects of PSD, ALK, and PSD/ALK at various ratios were
evaluated spectrophotometrically in vitro.
Results: With a half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC
50) value of 171.67 μg/mL, ALK showed higher
α-glucosidase inhibitory activity than PSD (IC
50 = 296.89 μg/mL). In addition, the
polysaccharides/alkaloids (PSD/ALK) at the ratio of 3:1 exhibited stronger α-glucosidase inhibitory
activity (IC
50 = 160.9 μg/mL) than PSD, ALK and PSD/ALK at ratios of 1:3 (IC
50 = 394.78 μg/mL), 1:2
(IC
50 = 185.18 μg/mL), 1:1 (IC
50 = 350.51 μg/mL), and 2:1 (IC
50 = 229.16 μg/mL).
Conclusion: The results obtained suggest that PSD/ALK (3:1) possesses the strongest α-glucosidase
inhibitory effect and may be considered as a candidate agent in future anti-diabetes drug development.
