Diabetes is a world-wide issue which can affect people at any age. It is ranked as oneof the top 10 diseases responsible for death worldwide. According to the InternationalDiabetes Federation, 424.9 million people worldwide were estimated to have diabetesin 2017 (90% with type 2 diabetes) and this number is projected to reach 629 millionpatients by 2045. The current treatments for managing diabetes are linked with anumber of side effects including severe hypoglycaemia, permanent neurologicaldeficit, stomach-ache, headache, lactic acidosis, liver damage, dizziness and death insome cases. Therefore, there is a need for improved anti-diabetic drugs with fewer sideeffects to enhance patient compliance and to control blood glucose levels more tightly.Natural products and plants in particular, offer an alternative to syntheticdrugs. Lathyrus linifolius is a plant whose tubers have historically been used as anappetite suppressant during medieval times in times when food was scarce. Due to theclose link between appetite suppressants and the treatment of diabetes/obesity, theplant’s leaves and tubers were examined for their potential anti-diabetic and antiobesity activity.This project aimed to: 1) produce Lathyrus linifolius extracts using Soxhlet apparatusextraction from which bioactive compounds could be isolated by columnchromatography and characterised by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR); 2) assessthe anti-diabetic and anti-obesity activity of the extracts and compounds; 3) investigatethe anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant activity of the extracts and compounds in invitro assays; 4) identify the effects of the tuber treatment on the gene expression ofappropriate diabesity components in normal rat pancreatic tissues obtained from aprevious study in which rats were fed with tubers; and 5) re-assess Lathyrus linifoliuseffects on obese Zucker rats and monitor the effects on body weight, food intake, waterintake and blood glucose levels.1) Four compounds were isolated for the first time from the ethyl acetate extract of thetubers; these were betulinic acid, lupeol, stigmasterol and β-sitosterol. The isolatedcompounds are known for their beneficial effects on hyperglycaemia and obesity tosome extent. Betulinic acid was the major component in the tubers and leaves.2) In biological assays, the ethyl acetate extract and betulinic acid from the tubers werepotent α-glucosidase inhibitors (P
Date of Award | 13 Dec 2019 |
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Original language | English |
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Awarding Institution | - University Of Strathclyde
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Supervisor | Valerie Ferro (Supervisor) & Alexander Gray (Supervisor) |
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