Characterizing Eckol as a Therapeutic Aid: A Systematic Review

Manandhar, Bandana; Paudel, Pradeep; Seong, Su Hui; Jung, Hyun Ah; Choi, Jae Sue

Diabetes mellitus describes a group of diseases that affect how bodies use blood sugar (glucose). Chronic diabetic conditions include type 1 diabetes (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM). With T1DM, the body does not make insulin, and in the more common T2DM (insulin-resistant state), the body fails to produce enough insulin or fails to respond adequately to insulin, leading to high glucose concentrations in the blood. The occurrence of severe hypoglycemia is related to intensive insulin therapy leading to research into antihyperglycemic agents focusing on traditional medicinal plants, as they could provide superior treatment as compared to synthetic drugs [88] . The methanol extract of Ecklonia maxima, four solvent-soluble fractions and three phlorotannins, phloroglucinol, dibenzo-1,4-dioxine-2,4,7,9-tetraol, and eckol were checked for their alpha-glucosidase inhibitory activity. The phloroglucinol derivative dibenzo-1,4-dioxine-2,4,7,9-tetraol (IC 50 33 .693 ± 0.61 µM) and eckol (IC 50 11 .163 ± 0.29 µM) displayed better inhibition than the positive control, acarbose (IC 50 1013.35 ± 89.01 µM), showing eckol to be a potential compound for the treatment of hyperglycemia [17] .