Introduction: Obesity and diabetes mellitus are prevalent life-threatening metabolic disorders. Herbal products
may provide potential treatments, but low-cost, quick methods to facilitate the discovery of active components
are required. A simple cost-effective method used to assess extracts of Coleus schinzii for anti-obesity and antidiabetic
effects is suggested. This approach provides a useful technique for researchers conducting preliminary in
vitro studies for any plant extract.
Methods: Exhaustive extraction with solvents with various levels of polarity was used to extract all the phytochemicals
from C. schinzii. Phytochemical screening tests were conducted utilizing standard analytical methods.
A colorimetric spectrophotometer assay was utilized to demonstrate the anti-obesity (anti-lipase) and antidiabetic
(anti-α-amylase and anti-α-glucosidase) activities, using 2,4-dinitrophenyl butyrate, 3, 5-dinitro salicylic
acid, and p-nitrophenol-a-D-glucopyranoside (PNPG), respectively. For validation, all experimental work was
conducted in triplicate, and results were considered significant when p values were less than 0.05.
Results: Phytochemical screening tests showed that methanolic extract was enriched with phenols, tannins, and
flavonoids. Compared with the positive controls, results revealed that C. schinzii methanol extract has potential
in-vitro anti-lipase, anti-α-amylase, and anti-α-glucosidase effects compared with the positive controls with IC50
doses of 64.07±0.57, 16.27±0.76 and 40.51±0.63 μg/ml, respectively.
Conclusion: C. schinzii, a traditional herbal medicine has not been previously screened for its lipase, α-amylase,
and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities. This was a useful preliminary technique to investigate this traditional
medicinal plant and is a method that can be more widely utilized in the laboratory for other medicinal plants. As
for any herbal product, pharmacological effects should be validated in-vivo and clinically.