Antidiabetic, antioxidant and chemical functionalities of Ziziphus jujuba (Mill.) and Moringa oleifera (Lam.) plants using multivariate data treatment

Abstract Medicinal plants constitute valuable sources of chemical substances with potential therapeutic effects. In this study, phenolic pools have been extracted using MeOH from leaves of jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) and moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.) and twelve phenolic compounds have been identified. Invitro antioxidant activities (DPPH, NO•, ORAC, metal chelating, FRAP, and CUPRAC) and enzyme (α-amylase and α-glucosidase) inhibitory effects of total phenolics have been evaluated. The amount of total phenolics was significantly higher in jujube (18.12±1.92 mg/g DW) than in moringa (3.09±0.25 mg/g DW).Separated compounds were also more abundant in jujube excepted for chlorogenic acid that was present at higher level (0.41±0.09 mg/g DW) in moringa than in jujube (0.03±0.00 mg/g DW). Among the major compounds, rutin was the most represented one in both species with 65% (11.80±1.43 mg/g DW) and 50% (1.56±0.11 mg/g DW) respectively in jujube and moringa. Concomitantly, methanolic extracts from jujube leaves displayed greater potential biological capacities against free radicals, chelating/reducing of iron or cupric forms and inhibitory enzymes as rescued by the lowest IC50 and EC50 values. The recorded data treated by PCA and Bi-plot analysis highlighted a positive correlation between phenolic pools and antioxidant activities particularly in jujube specie. Besides, statistic clustering of scored results on the inhibiton of α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymes, showed a strong contribution of phenolic and flavonoid pools in anti-diabetic activity. All these data suggest the importance of Z. jujuba specie as a source of bioactive compounds, especially against diabetic diseases.