In vitro alpha-glucosidase inhibitory effects of various plants from cucurbitaceae family

In this study, the main objectives are to determine the alpha-glucosidase inhibitory activity of 11 plants from cucurbitaceae family and also characterize them using standard phytochemical screening tests. The chosen plant samples were collected and extracted using 80% ethanol. The phyto constituents present in these plants were identified and it shows that flavonoids are present to all the ethanolic fruit extracts, while alkaloids, tannins, saponins and glycosides are present on some. The alpha-glucosidase inhibitory activity is identified using in vitro alpha-glucosidase assay that was carried out by Eon microplate spectrophotometer (BioTek Instrument USA). The results obtained show that will cucumber (Melothria pendula) has the highest inhibitory activity with IC50 of 10.28 ± 1.15 mg/mL, while wild bitter melon (Momordica charantia) obtained an IC50 of 11.88 ± 1.24 mg/mL. Melon (Cucumis melo) and spiny bitter cucumber (Momordica cochichinensis) showed no inhibitory activity against alpha-glucosidase enzyme