Investigation of two hill tract plants Tarenna campaniflora and Morinda persicifolia for antidiabetic potential and isolation of bioactive components along with in silico analysis

This project has been designed for the scientific exploration of two hill tract medicinal plants for their antidiabetic potential and other pharmacological properties. The number of people suffering from diabetes mellitus and its associated pathophysiological complications has been increasing dramatically over the past few decades, and this entails special attention towards its management. The few conventional therapies available are either expensive or often related to adverse effects; therefore, various traditional therapies are increasingly sought by patients. Medicinal plants provide better alternatives as they are generally less toxic and affordable; yet, their safety and efficacy need more evaluation by controlled clinical studies. The proposed plants Tarenna campaniflora and Morinda persicifolia have been selected based on their traditional usage and because no scientific work was conducted on these two so far. After collection, the plants’ parts will be subjected to drying, grinding, and extraction to get crude extracts which will be then subjected to evaluation of biological properties. The extracts will be separated with various chromatographic techniques to isolate pure compounds whose structures will be determined by spectroscopic analysis. Phytochemical characterization also will be carried out by GC-MS and HPLC analysis. Molecular docking analysis of the identified compounds would be conducted to find out molecules with better binding affinities with pertinent receptors or enzymes. This project will strive to explore our native natural resources to find out the source of alternative phytochemicals having the potential to replace/support/adjunct the current antidiabetic therapeutic moieties.

• Research Project