In vitro Antidiabetic and Antioxidant Activities of Alchornea cordifolia stem bark

Alchornea cordifolia, commonly known as the Christmas bush, is a popular medicinal plant utilised in the management of several diseases including diabetes mellitus. The study aimed to comparatively assess the phytochemical components, in vitro antioxidant, and antidiabetic properties of the aqueous and methanol extracts of Alchornea cordifolia stem bark. The extracts of A. cordifolia were screened for their phytochemicalss by standard procedures, and examined for antioxidant activity using various in vitro models: 2, 2’-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS), 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and Nitric oxide (NO). The antidiabetic capability of extracts was measured by assessing their inhibitory effects against α-amylase and α-glucosidase activities. The phytochemical inquiry revealed the presence of alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, anthocyanins, glycosides, and terpenoids in the methanol extract. While the phytochemicals found in the methanol extract were also present in the aqueous extract except for terpenoids, the extracts exhibited dose-reliant free radical scavenging effects in the tried models, with IC50 values of 0.24±0.01 and 0.30±0.01 for the methanol and aqueous extracts, in the DPPH assay, IC50 values of 0.23±0.05(methanol extract) and 0.31±0.01(aqueous extract), in the ABTS method, and IC50 values of 0.31±0.03 and 0.24±0.06 respectively for the methanol and aqueous extract in the NO method. Hence, the best radical scavenging result was gotten from the methanol extract. Also, the methanol extracts of A. cordifolia exhibited considerably higher inhibition against α-amylase and α-glucosidase activities than the aqueous extract, as reflected in their IC50 values. Thus, the methanol was a better solvent in extracting the active components of the plant. This study validates the antidiabetic and antioxidant activities of the A. cordifolia stem bark, which explains its usage in folkloric medicine.