Inhibition of pancreatic lipase by melastoma malabathricum fruit extract in vitro

Obesity has become global health problems since it is generally associated with many diseases. Currently, anti-obesity treatment used synthetic drugs to overcome obesity but this synthetic drugs has been proven to have adverse side effects to human. Thus, this research was done in order to discover new anti-obesity drug based on natural product. Melastoma malabathricum fruit (MMF) or locally known as ‘buah senduduk’ possess high total antioxidant and high total phenolic content which has potential as PL inhibitor that could treat the obesity. Aims of this research was to determine the content of Gallic Acid (GA) and Quercetin (Q) that present in MMF. This research also was done in order to identify the inhibitory activity of MMF extract against pancreatic lipase (PL) in vitro. The study was carried out by using water based extraction method and were prepared by using heat and without heat. From Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy Analysis, it was founded that the MMF consist of alcohol, alkynes and alkenes functional group. From phytochemical screening, the highest TPC value obtained were 1.133 mg GAE/g extract and 2.031 mg GAE/g extract for extraction without heat and extraction with heat respectively. As for TFC, the highest TFC value obtained were 0.818 mg QE/g extract and 0.835 mg QE/g extract for extraction without heat and extraction with heat respectively. The samples prepared with heat; MMF (99.52%) exhibits higher percentage inhibition then Q (98.15%). Thus, it suggested that the natural inhibitor is better than snythetic inhibitor. This result suggests that MMF has a potential role in therapy for obesity-related disorders.