ASSESSMENT OF THE ANTIOXIDANT, ANTIDIABETIC AND ANTIOBESITY EFFECT POTENTIALS OF PARONYCHIA ARGENTEA LAM.

Objective: Plants belonging to the genus Paronychia Mill. are traditionally used in many parts of the world against various diseases. In this study, antiobesity, antioxidant and antidiabetic effects of the extract prepared from the aerial parts of Paronychia argentea Lam. were investigated and total phenol and flavonoid contents were analysed. Material and Method: DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activity, ferric reducing power, metal chelating capacity and total antioxidant capacity methods were used to investigate the antioxidant activity of 80% ethanol extract prepared from the aerial parts of P. argentea. On the other hand, the antidiabetic effect of the extract was determined by α-glucosidase, α-amylase enzyme inhibition tests and antiobesity effect was determined by pancreatic lipase enzyme inhibition test. Total flavonoid and total phenol contents of the P. argentea extract were evaluated by UV spectrophotometric methods. Result and Discussion: The metal chelating capacity and DPPH radical scavenging activity of P. argentea extract (2000 µg/ml) were 34.19 ± 1.68% and 65.88 ± 1.43%, respectively. As the extract concentration increased, an increase in the inhibition percentage was observed in all enzyme systems. P. argentea extract showed the strongest inhibitory effect on α-glucosidase enzyme at 2000 µg/ml (60.80 ± 1.94%). Total phenol content of the extract was 47.69 ± 1.03 mg GAE/g extract and total flavonoid content was 40.42 ± 1.32 mg QE/g extract. The results showed that the extract had moderate antioxidant activity and the strongest inhibitory effect on enzyme systems was on α-glucosidase enzyme. Further antidiabetic studies should be carried out on the extract prepared from the aerial parts of P. argentea.