Ficus benghalensis promotes the glucose uptake- Evidence with in silico and in vitro

Vaishnavi Shankar Madiwalar; Prarambh S R Dwivedi; Ashwini Patil; Soham M N Gaonkar; Vrunda J Kumbhar; Pukar Khanal; B M Patil

doi:10.1007/s40200-022-00989-2

Ficus benghalensis promotes the glucose uptake- Evidence with in silico and in vitro

J Diabetes Metab Disord. 2022 Feb 15;21(1):429-438. doi: 10.1007/s40200-022-00989-2. eCollection 2022 Jun.

Authors

Vaishnavi Shankar Madiwalar^#¹, Prarambh S R Dwivedi^#¹, Ashwini Patil¹, Soham M N Gaonkar¹, Vrunda J Kumbhar¹, Pukar Khanal¹, B M Patil¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, KLE College of Pharmacy Belagavai, KLE Academy of Higher Education and Research (KAHER), Belagavi, 590010 India.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Ficus benghalensis L. is traditionally used to manage diabetes; also used in various herbal formulations, and is indicated as an insulin sensitizer. Hence, present work attempted in identifying the probable lead hits to promote glucose uptake via computational approach followed by experimental evaluation of hydroalcoholic extract of Ficus benghalensis L. bark in yeast cells.

Methods: The in vitro assay for glucose uptake was performed in the baker yeast whereas in-silico study involved retrieving the phytoconstituents from open sources, and predicting for probable targets of diabetes followed by drug-likeness score, probable side effects, and ADMET profile. Homology modeling was performed to construct the target protein glucose transporter-2. In addition, the binding affinity of each ligand with glucose transporter was predicted using AutoDock 4.2.

Results: A total of 17 phytoconstituents from F. benghalensis were identified to possess the anti-diabetic effects. Among them, 4-methoxybenzoic acid scored the highest drug-likeness score and lupeol acetate had the maximum binding affinity of -8.02 kcal/mol with 9 pi-interactions via Tyr324, Phe323, Ile319, Ile200, Ile28, Phe24, and Ala451. Similarly, the extract showed the highest glucose uptake efficacy in yeast cells at 500 µg/mL.

Conclusion: Herein the present study reflected the probable activity of the phytoconstituents from F. benghalensis in promoting the glucose uptake via the in silico and in vitro approaches.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus; Ficus benghalensis; Glucose transporters (GLUTs); Glucose uptake; Molecular modeling (in-silico studies); Saccharomyces cerevisiae.