Hypoglycemic and hepatoprotective effects in adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) of fisetinidol isolated from Bauhinia pentandra: In vivo and in silico assays

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder that has been increasing drastically around the worldwide. It is important to emphasize that although many drugs are commercially available to treat diabetes, many of them have shown a number of adverse effects. Therefore, search for new antidiabetic agents is of great interest, and natural products, especially those obtained from plants sources, may be an alternative to available drugs. This study reports the in vivo and in silico evaluation of the hypoglycemic activity of fisetinidol. The conformational analysis confirmed that the fisetinidol compound possesses two valleys in the potential energy curve, showing a stable conformer on the global minimum of the PES defined by the dihedral angle theta (C6-C7-O-H) at 179.9 degrees, whose energy is equal to zero. In addition, fisetinidol has shown promise in glycemic control and oxidative stress caused by hyperglycemia induced by high sucrose concentration, causing hypoglycemic and hepatoprotective effects in adult zebrafish. ADMET studies showed that fisetinidol has high passive permeability, low clearance and low toxic risk by ingestion, and computational studies demonstrated that fisetinidol complexes in the same region as metformin and alpha-acarbose, which constitutes a strong indication that fisetinidol has the same inhibitory mechanisms of alpha-acarbose and metformin. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Automated summary

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder that has been increasing drastically worldwide. The study found that fisetinidol, a compound obtained from plants, has potential hypoglycemic and hepatoprotective effects, and shares the same inhibitory mechanisms as existing antidiabetic drugs.