Phytochemicals in antidiabetic drug discovery

Abstract

Management of diabetes mellitus is a challenge for clinicians. Uncontrolled hyperglycemia increases the risk of microvascular and macrovascular complications, damaging the body systems. Although a number of antidiabetic drugs are available for therapeutic intervention, toxicity, loss of efficacy in chronic use and high cost of treatment have necessitated the search for new molecules to manage diabetes. Safety and cost are the main prerequisite for the new antidiabetic molecules. Medicinal plants and their purified phytochemicals have shown promising antidiabetic potential in the past few years. The current review summarizes the antidiabetic activity of alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, saponins, polysaccharides, terpenoids, glycosides and xanthones isolated from medicinal plants.