Final Report Summary - NAAN (Natural antidiabetic & anti-hypertensive drugs)
Increasing incidence of chronic diseasesbecomes a great challenge for the entire world, especially in developing countries where health systems are still immature. Hypertension and diabetes are two of the most common chronic diseases present almost equally in developed and developing countries.
Worldwide, hypertension was estimated by the WHO in 2008 to cause 7.5 million deaths, which is about 12.8% of the total of all deaths. It has been shown to be positively and continuously related to the risk for stroke and coronary heart diseases. Globally, the overall prevalence of raised blood pressure in adults aged 25 and over was around 40% in 2008. However, because of population growth and ageing, the number of people with uncontrolled hypertension rose from 600 million in 1980 to nearly 1 billion in 2008.
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a complex metabolic disorder that increases tremendously all over the world. The number of people suffering diabetes around the world is 360 million and is expected to increase to 500 million by 2030.The incidence of diabetes in Egypt rose to 16.5 million people in 2013, half of which do not know they suffer from this disease, while the other half receives treatment. The disease has risen 83 percent in Egypt over the past 15 years, which is a very large increase compared to international rates.
Bad eating habits and lack of excercise especially in developing countries, like Egypt, lead to the increase of hypertensive and diabetic patients each year. Therefore, diabetes, hypertension and their complications impose significant economic consequences on individuals, families, health systems and countries.
Many medicinal plants have been used to treat DM and hypertension since ancient times, as reported in the Ebers papyrus in Egypt. Phytotherapy is not yet included in the evidence-based medicine, especially with respect to DM and hypertension therapies. Studying of potential anti-diabetic and antihypertensive plants will contribute to a better health care.
The fruits of Solanum distichum SCHUMACH. (Fig. 1) and Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) DELILE (“Egyptian dates”) (Fig. 2) have been used since ancient times as antihypertensive and antidiabetic agents, respectively, in African folk medicine.
Since little was known so far about the active constituents and mechanism of action of these fruits dispite their long use in African folk medicine, and the fact that they belong to everyday food in several countries, encouraged us to subject these obviously safe plants to detailed scientific research. The goal was to develop safe and effective anti-hypertensive and antidiabetic preparations. The NAAN project succeeded to define the most active fractions of the two plant extracts, to isolate bioactive compounds from these active fractions, as well as to determine their mechanisms of action as anti-hypertensive and antidiabetic agents.. This can be considered as a first step to the development of safe and effective herbal products. Results of the project will encourage pharmaceutical companies and the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) at the Ministry of Health to support further clinical studies on both traditionally used fruits as a step forward towards their registration as traditionally used herbal medicines for the treatment of diabetes and hypertension.
In eight successive workpackages, the project team worked on: 1) Extraction of both fruits (Balanites aegyptiaca and Solanum distichum), using solvents of different polarity. 2) Pharmacological evaluation of the produced extracts of both fruits to determine their anti-hypertensive and/or anti-diabetic activities. 3) Fractionation of the active extracts via different chromatographic techniques to obtain the active fractions. 4) Pharmacological evaluation of the fractions obtained, followed by 5) Isolation of the active compounds from the most active fractions using different chromatographic techniques to obtain the bioactive compounds of the two plants. 6) Structural elucidation: determination of the structures of the isolated compounds using various spectroscopic methods [MS,1D and 2D NMR (HSQC, HMBC, DQF-COSY, HSQC-TOCSY)]. Then 7) Determination of mechanisms of action of the active fractions and corresponding isolated compounds. The last workpackage no. 8 was dissemination of the results and findings either to the scientific community or to the public.
The project has involved partners from University of Graz (UniGraz), Austria, The National Institute for Chemical Pharmaceutical Research and Development (ICCF), Romania, University of Salento (UniSalento), Italy, Victor Babes National Institute of Pathology (IVB), Romania, and SEKEM Development Foundation (SDF), Egypt.
Worldwide, hypertension was estimated by the WHO in 2008 to cause 7.5 million deaths, which is about 12.8% of the total of all deaths. It has been shown to be positively and continuously related to the risk for stroke and coronary heart diseases. Globally, the overall prevalence of raised blood pressure in adults aged 25 and over was around 40% in 2008. However, because of population growth and ageing, the number of people with uncontrolled hypertension rose from 600 million in 1980 to nearly 1 billion in 2008.
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a complex metabolic disorder that increases tremendously all over the world. The number of people suffering diabetes around the world is 360 million and is expected to increase to 500 million by 2030.The incidence of diabetes in Egypt rose to 16.5 million people in 2013, half of which do not know they suffer from this disease, while the other half receives treatment. The disease has risen 83 percent in Egypt over the past 15 years, which is a very large increase compared to international rates.
Bad eating habits and lack of excercise especially in developing countries, like Egypt, lead to the increase of hypertensive and diabetic patients each year. Therefore, diabetes, hypertension and their complications impose significant economic consequences on individuals, families, health systems and countries.
Many medicinal plants have been used to treat DM and hypertension since ancient times, as reported in the Ebers papyrus in Egypt. Phytotherapy is not yet included in the evidence-based medicine, especially with respect to DM and hypertension therapies. Studying of potential anti-diabetic and antihypertensive plants will contribute to a better health care.
The fruits of Solanum distichum SCHUMACH. (Fig. 1) and Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) DELILE (“Egyptian dates”) (Fig. 2) have been used since ancient times as antihypertensive and antidiabetic agents, respectively, in African folk medicine.
Since little was known so far about the active constituents and mechanism of action of these fruits dispite their long use in African folk medicine, and the fact that they belong to everyday food in several countries, encouraged us to subject these obviously safe plants to detailed scientific research. The goal was to develop safe and effective anti-hypertensive and antidiabetic preparations. The NAAN project succeeded to define the most active fractions of the two plant extracts, to isolate bioactive compounds from these active fractions, as well as to determine their mechanisms of action as anti-hypertensive and antidiabetic agents.. This can be considered as a first step to the development of safe and effective herbal products. Results of the project will encourage pharmaceutical companies and the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) at the Ministry of Health to support further clinical studies on both traditionally used fruits as a step forward towards their registration as traditionally used herbal medicines for the treatment of diabetes and hypertension.
In eight successive workpackages, the project team worked on: 1) Extraction of both fruits (Balanites aegyptiaca and Solanum distichum), using solvents of different polarity. 2) Pharmacological evaluation of the produced extracts of both fruits to determine their anti-hypertensive and/or anti-diabetic activities. 3) Fractionation of the active extracts via different chromatographic techniques to obtain the active fractions. 4) Pharmacological evaluation of the fractions obtained, followed by 5) Isolation of the active compounds from the most active fractions using different chromatographic techniques to obtain the bioactive compounds of the two plants. 6) Structural elucidation: determination of the structures of the isolated compounds using various spectroscopic methods [MS,1D and 2D NMR (HSQC, HMBC, DQF-COSY, HSQC-TOCSY)]. Then 7) Determination of mechanisms of action of the active fractions and corresponding isolated compounds. The last workpackage no. 8 was dissemination of the results and findings either to the scientific community or to the public.
The project has involved partners from University of Graz (UniGraz), Austria, The National Institute for Chemical Pharmaceutical Research and Development (ICCF), Romania, University of Salento (UniSalento), Italy, Victor Babes National Institute of Pathology (IVB), Romania, and SEKEM Development Foundation (SDF), Egypt.