Antidiabetic Potential of Plants from the Caribbean Basin

• Published in: Plants (Basel) Vol. 11; no. 10; p. 1360
• Main Authors: Méril-Mamert, Vanessa, Ponce-Mora, Alejandro, Sylvestre, Muriel, Lawrence, Genica, Bejarano, Eloy, Cebrián-Torrejón, Gerardo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 20.05.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Acids; Biodiversity; Chemical Sciences; Complications; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Flavonoids; Flora; Flowers & plants; Glucose; glycative stress; Herbal medicine; Hyperglycemia; Insulin; Insulin resistance; Lipid metabolism; Lipids; Medicinal plants; Medicine; Metabolic disorders; Metabolism; Metabolites; Natural products; Oxidative stress; Phytochemicals; phytocompounds; Review; Caribbean area; glycative stress; hyperglycemia; phytocompounds; diabetes mellitus
• ISSN: 2223-7747; 2223-7747
• DOI: 10.3390/plants11101360

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by hyperglycemia, insulin insufficiency or insulin resistance, and many issues, including vascular complications, glycative stress and lipid metabolism dysregulation. Natural products from plants with antihyperglycemic, hypolipidemic, pancreatic protective, antioxidative, and insulin-like properties complement conventional treatments. Throughout this review, we summarize the current status of knowledge of plants from the Caribbean basin traditionally used to manage DM and treat its sequelae. Seven plants were chosen due to their use in Caribbean folk medicine. We summarize the antidiabetic properties of each species, exploring the pharmacological mechanisms related to their antidiabetic effect reported in vitro and in vivo. We propose the Caribbean flora as a source of innovative bioactive phytocompounds to treat and prevent DM and DM-associated complications.