In vitro lipase inhibition activity from dried pericarp of Garcinia parvifolia (Miq.) / Syasya Nur Iffah Samsudin

Obesity is a common disease that is caused by excess amount of fat intake by the body and it can affects human regardless of age and gender. The current drugs used for treatment have caused adverse side effects. There are many plants in the world that can be used as natural anti-obesity agent that have not been well-discovered, including Garcinia parvifolia. Garcinia parvifolia is postulated comparable to the famous Garcinia cambogia which has been commercialized as anti-obesity agent due to the presence of hydroxycitric acid, as both is in the same genus. In this study, phytochemical screening was undergone in order to determine the presence of flavonoids, alkaloid and phenol which are known to be bioactive compound that have lipase inhibition activity. Two different extraction solvents were used which are methanol and aqueous. Methanol extract contain all of the target bioactive compound while aqueous extract contains only one targeted bioactive compound which is flavonoids. Hydroxycitric acid was isolated form the aqueous extract from dried pericarp of Garcinia parvifolia hydroxycitric acid is known to be a polar compound. Thin layer chromatography using methanol with water mixture (6:2) was used in order to determine the purity of the isolated compound. It is determined that Garcinia parvifolia contain Hydroxycitric acid in its dried pericarp with Rf value of 0.78. Porcine Pancreatic Lipase assay was used to determine lipase inhibition activity. The crude methanol extract, crude aqueous extract and hydroxycitric acid showed positive lipase inhibition activity. Crude aqueous extract is seen to be the most potent lipase inhibitor as it has high inhibition at lower concentration which is 91.48% inhibition at 625μg/mL, followed by crude methanol extract 91.18% at 1250 μg/mL and hydroxycitric acid 82.88% at 10000 μg/mL. This study is hoped to be beneficial for commercialization of Garcinia parvifolia as a natural anti-obesity agent.