Home Hydro-alcoholic extract of Morus nigra reduces fasting blood glucose and HbA1c% in diabetic patients, probably via competitive and allosteric interaction with alpha-glucosidase enzyme; a clinical trial and in silico analysis
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Hydro-alcoholic extract of Morus nigra reduces fasting blood glucose and HbA1c% in diabetic patients, probably via competitive and allosteric interaction with alpha-glucosidase enzyme; a clinical trial and in silico analysis

  • Hamid Momeni , Ashraf Salehi , Abdorrahim Absalan and Mehran Akbari EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: May 5, 2021

Abstract

Objectives

1-Deoxynojirimycin (1-DNJ), the main active component found in Morus nigra (black mulberry) is reported to be effective in controlling diabetes. We have evaluated the effect of hydro-alcoholic extract of M. nigra leaves on the fasting blood glucose (FBS) and hemoglobin A1c% (HbA1c%) in diabetic patients. Furthermore, we compared the interaction of 1-DNJ and glucose molecules with the alpha-glucosidase enzyme, which has a critical role in the lysis of glucose-based polymers in human cells.

Methods

4% hydro-alcoholic extract was prepared from black mulberry leaves. Patients in treatment (n=50) and control (n=50) groups received 3 mL extract or placebo in water, respectively, and three times a day. Fasting blood glucose and HbA1c% were evaluated before and after three months of evaluation. Potential binding sites of 1-DNJ or glucose on the enzyme glucosidase found by docking study. Docking scores were obtained using an energy minimization method by Molegro Virtual Docker software. The Mean ± SD of each variable was compared between groups at the 95% significant level.

Results

Age mean ± SD was equal to 54.79 ± 9.203 (38–69) years. There was no significant difference between intervention and placebo groups considering FBS (p=0.633) but was for HbA1c% (p=0.0011), before treatment. After three months, both FBS and HbA1c% were significantly reduced in patients under mulberry leaves extract-treatment. FBS changed was from 182.23 ± 38.65 to 161.23 ± 22.14 mg/dL in treatment group (p<0.001) and from 178.45 ± 39.46 to 166.23 ± 29.64 mg/dL in control group (p<0.001). HbA1c was changed from 7.23 ± 0.25 to 6.13 ± 0.61% in treatment group (p<0.001) and from 7.65 ± 0.85 to 7.12 ± 0.33% in control group (p=0.854). Docking results showed that 1-DNJ binds more efficiently, and with a significant score than glucose, to human alpha-glucosidase.

Conclusions

This clinical trial and virtual analysis showed that a hydro-alcoholic extract of black mulberry (M. nigra) leaf may be efficient in reducing the blood glucose and HbA1c% in diabetic patients. Furthermore, docking studies propose a competitive and allosteric regulation for herbal ingredients. Drug-development could be based on the presented idea in this report.


Corresponding author: Mehran Akbari, Department of Nursing, Khomein University of Medical Sciences, Khomein, Iran, Mobile: +989373471255, E-mail:

Award Identifier / Grant number: 1214

Acknowledgments

The presented study is evaluated and accepted by the research office of Arak University of medical sciences. Therefore, the authors declare the best regards and thanks to dear coworkers in the mentioned department. Furthermore, we thank all dear patients who were included in the study and permit us to do the current work.

  1. Research funding: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was supported by Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran (No: 1214).

  2. Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  3. Conflict of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest for publishing the paper in its current format.

  4. Ethical approval: The Ethics Committee of Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran, approved this study (93-170-2).

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Received: 2021-01-04
Accepted: 2021-02-07
Published Online: 2021-05-05

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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