𝛼-Glucosidases are one kind of the most important carbohydrate-hydrolyzing enzymes. These enzymes play a crucial role in a broad range of metabolic pathways, which are closely related to some modern diseases, such as lysosomal storage diseases, HIV, and metastatic cancer.
Among them, 𝛼-glucosidase is in the brush-border surface membrane of small intestinal cells capable of catalyzing carbohydrate into glucose which is absorbed into the blood.
Mangiferin has been reported to possess antidiabetic activities. Norathyriol, a xanthone aglycone, has the same structure as mangiferin, except for a C-glucosyl bond. Both of norathyriol and mangiferin caused significant reduction in fasting blood glucose and the blood glucose levels at two hours after carbohydrate loading and it was interesting that mangiferin and norathyriol can make the decline of the blood glucose earlier than other groups ever including normal group in the starch tolerance test.
Research suggest that norathyriol and mangiferin could improve the glucose utilization and insulin sensitivity by up-regulation of the phosphorylation of AMPK. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) plays a major role in regulating metabolism and has attracted significant attention as a therapeutic target for treating metabolic disorders.
Norathyriol
