未來可將該植物萃取物成功地製成產品銷售至市場，並讓中醫師做使用 ; 如此，除了滿足中醫師的醫療資源缺乏外，更能提供學術上之參考價值。 Diabetes is one of the major chronic diseases in our nation. However, there is a shortage of effective botanicals for the treatment of diabetes in the traditional Chinese medicine industry. Here, using research and resource integration, we aimed to identify a plant that can improve glycemic control in an evidence-based manner.
Gymnema sylvestre is a traditional Indian herb that helps reduce cravings for sweets; it is commonly used in treating diabetes. Modern studies have shown that the active ingredient of gymnema sylvestre is gymnemic acid, which contains a glycosyl group in its structure; gymnemic acid inhibits glucose absorption by binding to glucose receptors. Currently, several products of gymnema sylvestre are available; however, owing to constraints imposed by traditional processing methods, it has been difficult to efficiently raise the concentration of gymnemic acid, thereby hindering its applications. Here, we tried to extract gymnemic acid from gymnema sylvestre using various special solvents and to increase its recycling rate under the premise of raising the concentration of gymnemic acid in the extract, with the expectation of developing an extractive process of gymnemic acid with commercial value. In addition, this study also aimed to develop a rapid method by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) for identifying gymnemic acid; the developed method was effective and used in quality control of the final product.
The results indicate that the processing developed in this study has a good recovery rate and can be directly applied for production, thereby generating economic benefits. This study has systematically established the method of extracting gymnemic acid and controlling its activity. Validation of the UHPLC method was carried out according to International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) Q2 (R1) guidelines. Linearity was observed in the range of 1 – 300 µg/mL with correlation coefficient of 0.99981. LOD is 0.25 µg/mL and LOQ is 1 µg/mL. Recoveries ranged between 85 ~ 110%. The Intra-day and Inter-day CVs were mostly below 10% and 14%.
In the future, the plant extraction can be successfully developed into products for sale and can be used by Chinese medicine practitioners. Thus, apart from satisfying the shortage of medical resources in the Chinese medicine industry, the products can also serve as valuable in academic reference.
