Determination of Antioxidant and α–Amylase Inhibition Properties of Alligator Pepper (Aframomum Melegueta): A Potential Therapeutic Against Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by raised levels of blood glucose, which over time leads to serious damage to the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves. α-amylase Plays a major role in the digestion of starch and glycogen. Thus, inhibitors of this enzyme delay the breakdown of carbohydrates in the small intestine, thereby diminishing postprandial blood glucose in the diabetic patient. In this study, a DPPH radical scavenging activity and computational approaches were employed to uncover the potential of Aframomum Melegueta phytochemicals against type two diabetes mellitus mainly by molecular docking, molecular dynamic simulation, MMPBSA and ADMET analysis. The results show that it has high antioxidant properties. Molecular docking indicates that laurifolin, genkwanin and gulunalactone have good binding scores of -9.9 kcal/mol, -8.9 kcal/mol and -8.2 kcal/mol, respectively. And have interacted with at least two of the catalytic triads of α-amylase; Asp 300, Glu 233 and Asp 197. Molecular dynamic simulation results show that all the compounds are stable at the active site of the enzyme. Furthermore, MMPBSA analysis revealed they bind strongly with the binding energy of -21.77± 1.03 Kcal/mol, -17.82 ± 0.84 Kcal/mol and 15.07± 0.26 Kcal/mol for laurifolin, genkwanin and galanolactone. ADMET analysis indicated that all the ligands are water-soluble, drug-like and safe. This study shows that A. Melegueta extract has antioxidant properties and possess phytochemicals that can be exploited for further anti-diabetic drug development.