α-Glucosidase inhibitors from the seeds of Syagrus romanzoffiana

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 IC₅₀ 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.