Fatemeh Ghamari - Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Payam Noor University, Qazvin, Iran

Medicinal herbs are rich sources of bioactive compounds that can retard absorption of glucose by the inhibition of carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzymes and is one of the therapeutic approaches to decrease the postprandial hyperglycemia. The objective of this research wastherefore to evaluate the antiradical activity and alpha-glucosidase inhibitory activity of different concentrations (6.25, 12.5, 25, 50 and 100 mg/ml) of the ethanolic extract of Malva neglecta and Althaea officinalis. Results revealed that increasing the concentration of ethanolic extract of Malva neglecta and Althaea officinalis yielded a higher antiradical activity. For antiradical activity, IC50 values of the ethanolic extract of Malva neglecta and Althaea officinalis were calculated as 52.90 and 68.00 mg/ml, respectively, that represents the ethanolic extract of Malva neglecta has more antiradical activity. The results showed that increasing the concentration of ethanolic extract of Malva neglecta and Althaea officinalis caused significant increment in the alpha-glucosidase inhibitory activity. Data showed that alpha-glucosidase inhibitory activity by the ethanolic extract of Malva neglecta (IC50 = 76.17 mg/ml) was significantly higher than the ethanolic extract of Althaea officinalis (IC50 = 304.12 mg/ml). Generally the results of this research showed that ethanolic extracts of Malva neglecta and Althaea officinalis due to its antioxidant properties can be used as substitutes for chemical food additives. Also remarkable inhibition of the alpha-glucosidase makes them appropriate candidates in treatment of diabetic patients.

Antioxidant effect, Alpha-glucosidase, Malva neglecta, Althaea officinalis