Alpha-amylase inhibition activity of pandan (Pandanus Amaryllifolius) roots extract / Muhammad Aidid Nor Ariffin

Pandan (Pandanus amaryllifolius) is a herbaceous plant that is commonly found and used in Southeast Asian countries mainly as natural antidiabetic sources. Diabetes is a chronic illness that happened to be the seventh cause of death by 2030. This is correlated with the α-amylase enzyme in human body that catalyze the hydrolysis of starch and thus increases the glucose production in the body which leads to diabetes. Hence, this study involved extracting the root part of P. amaryllifolius via maceration method using three solvents of different polarity which are ethanol, acetone, and n-hexane with percentage yield of 15.63%, 7.93% and 5.87% respectively. Each of this extract is then undergo separation via rotary evaporator and the α-amylase inhibition assay was done where the inhibition activity, IC50 was calculated for ethanolic extract, acetone extract and n-hexane extract to be 10.902, 60.654 and 31.543 respectively. Based on this, the ethanolic extract from P. amaryllifolius roots resulted into the lowest IC50 which indicates a high inhibition activity against α-amylase. Hence, ethanolic extract from P. amaryllifolius roots was chosen for further analysis where the total phenolic and flavonoid content was calculated to be 73.98 mg GAE/100 g plant sample and 9.75 mg QE/ 100 g plant sample. The ethanolic extract from P. amaryllifolius roots was then run through Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to find out types of functional groups present as well as determining major compounds in the P. amaryllifolius roots extract. The result showed significant amount of phenolic and flavonoid compounds based on the FTIR spectrum and the presence of quercetin as secondary metabolite that is highly responsible for the inhibition of α-amylase.