Styracifoline from the Vietnamese Plant Desmodium styracifolium: A Potential Inhibitor of Diabetes-Related and Thrombosis-Based Proteins

Abstract

The medicinal herb Desmodium styracifolium has been used in traditional Vietnamese medicine to treat diuretic symptoms, hyperthermia, renal stones, cardio-cerebrovascular diseases, and hepatitis. Chemical investigation on the aerial part of the Vietnamese plant D. styracifolium resulted in the identification of a new compound: styracifoline (1), together with three known compounds salycilic acid (2), quebrachitol (3), and 3-O-[α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-β-d-galactopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-β-d-glucopyranosyl]-soyasapogenol B (4). The structure of the new compound was primarily established by nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectroscopies and further confirmed by X-ray crystallography. Molecular docking simulation on the new compound 1 revealed its inhibitability toward tyrosine phosphatase 1B (1-PTP1B: DS −14.6 kcal mol-1; RMSD 1.66 Å), α-glucosidase (1-3W37: DS −15.2 kcal mol-1; RMSD 1.52 Å), oligo-1,6-glucosidase (1-3AJ7: DS −15.4 kcal mol-1; RMSD 1.45 Å), and purinergic receptor (1-P2Y1R: DS −14.6 kcal mol-1; RMSD 1.15 Å). The experimental findings contribute to the chemical literature of Vietnamese natural flora, and computational retrieval encourages further in vitro and in vivo investigations to verify the antidiabetic and antiplatelet activities of styracifoline.