Abstract
Commercial antidiabetic polyherbal formulations (APH) are available with claimed hypoglycemic activities; yet they lack systematic scientific studies leading to their limited global acceptance. In the present study, six selected APH from the Indian market were evaluated for their phytochemical contents, anti-hyperglycemic, anti-hyperlipidemic, antioxidant activities and further identifying the major antidiabetic bioactive compound of "MA" by HPLC-ESI-MS/MS. Our results revealed highest TPC (136.97 ± 0.6 µg GAE/mg) and TFC (128.85 ± 0.74 µg QE/mg) in APH-DB and APH-SN, respectively. APH-MA has exhibited highest α-amylase 72.5% (IC(50)-579.65 μg/ml), α-glucosidase 88.02% (IC(50)-261.03 μg/ml) and moderate lipase inhibition 57.7% (IC(50) 159.57 μg/ml). A variable free radical scavenging activity was observed by all the tested APH. Further significant linear positive correlations were observed between TPC-Lipase (r (2)-0.985****), TFC-α-amylase (r (2)-0.868**) and DPPH-α-amylase inhibition (r (2)-0.8098*). HPLC-ESI-MS/MS of MA showed the presence of anti-hyperglycemic compounds, Pheophorbide a and Pyropheophorbide a, as the major peaks. Among the tested extracts, MA exhibited better activities while BG, MH, SN, DB, and DT have showed comparable/mild anti-hyperglycemic, anti-hyperlipidemic and antioxidant potential. Hence the tested APH may be considered effective for DM management which can further be assessed for their other targets of inhibition.