α-Glucosidase inhibitors from the seeds of Syagrus romanzoffiana

Abstract Bioassay-guided fractionation against α-glucosidase resulted in isolation and characterization of eight active compounds from the EtOH extract of the seeds of Syagrus romanzoffiana . Of these, seven are stilbenoids, and two of them, 13-hydroxykompasinol A ( 1 ) and scirpusin C ( 4 ), possess potent inhibitory activity against α-glucosidase type IV from Bacillus stearothermophilus with the IC 50 value of 6.5 and 4.9 μM, respectively. The in vivo assay on normal Wistar rats using oral sucrose challenge also demonstrated that kompasinol A ( 2 ) and 3,3′,4,5,5′-pentahydroxy- trans -stilbene ( 5 ) possess significant effect in reducing the postprandial blood glucose level (10.2% and 12.1% at 10 mg/kg, respectively). These results suggest that stilbenoids might be explored for their therapeutic potential as hypoglycemic agents.