Synthesis and In Vivo Evalution of Decursinol Derivatives as Antidiabetics

Abstract

There are currently no diabetes drugs that can reduce blood glucose without causing adverse secondary effects. In this study, we report the synthesis of various compounds derived from decursinol, a molecule isolated from Angelica gigas with proven safety. The blood glucose reduction efficacy of synthesized compound 11 was equivalent to that of glimepiride, a commercially available diabetes drug used as a reference (21.6% vs. 21.4%), which was confirmed in rat and mouse models of diabetes. Compound 11 is a nonsulfonyl urea class substance that is predicted to be highly effective in reducing blood glucose while having few adverse effects, indicating that it is potential candidate drug for diabetes treatment that circumvents the limitations of existing therapeutics.