DOI: https://doi.org/10.55373/mjchem.v27i6.176

Keywords: Commelinaceae; Tradescantia spathacea; antiobesity; pancreatic lipase inhibition; Ultrasonic-assisted extraction.

Abstract

Obesity is a prevalent global metabolic disorder that impacts societies worldwide. To the best of our knowledge, no studies have been investigated on the anti-obesity effects of Tradescantia spathacea leaves. The aim of this study is to evaluate the pancreatic lipase (PL) inhibitory effects of Tradescantia spathacea leaves. Orlistat was used as positive control. Ultrasonic-assisted extraction, solvent partitioning and fractionation techniques were used to obtain hexane, dichloromethane, and ethyl acetate crude extracts and their subfractions. The extracts and subfractions were then analyzed for PL inhibitory activity. The results show that the dichloromethane crude extract exhibits the highest PL inhibition rate of 97.73±0.59%, followed by the ethyl acetate crude extract (90.89±0.05%) and the hexane crude extract (43.80±1.80%) at 2.5 mg/mL. The dichloromethane and ethyl acetate extracts were chosen to be further isolated into their respective fractions. Three dichloromethane subfractions exhibited IC₅₀ values of 0.39±0.06, 0.45±0.01, and 0.54±0.08 mg/mL while four ethyl acetate fractions exhibited IC₅₀ values of 0.13±0.03, 0.28±0.12, 0.33±0.11, and 0.59±0.27 mg/mL, respectively. T. spathacea exhibits potent pancreatic lipase inhibitory activity, suggesting it as a potential source of anti-obesity compounds and is amenable to further purification processes to isolate their bioactive components that contribute to the PL inhibitory effects.