Background: Since ancient times, the traditional system of medicine has been practiced
and developed an array of defense strategies to manage various ailments. About 60-80
percentof people from different parts of the world rely on herbal medicine for their
health care. In the present study, a combined method using TLC mass spectrometry
bioautography (TLC-MS bioautography) combined with DPPH and α-amylase
activities was utilized to compare antioxidant and antidiabetic activities in an aqueous
extract of
B. lycium. Materials and Methods: In this paper, an aqueous extract of
B. lycium
was prepared, developed TLC and performed TLC-MS bioautographic to identify the
antioxidant and antidiabetic bioactive metabolites. Results: TLC scans were performed at
254 and 366 nm, respectively and obtained results revealed there is a total of 11 and 10
metabolites present in
B. lycium. Further, TLC-MS Bioautographic studies isolate a total
of two lead compounds such as berberine and palmitine through a chemico-biological
detection system. Out of two, berberine showed antioxidant and antidiabetic activity
while palmitine only shows antidiabetic activity. Conclusion: TLC-MS bioautographic
screening could be an excellent technique to assess the antioxidant and antidiabetic
activity of herbal products and the results achieved will be very useful for promoting their
utilization and development of new therapeutic regimens.