Iranian Journal of

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Background: Inhibitors of α-glucosidase by interfering with digestion of carbohydrates play a role in controlling diabetes. Thymus vulgaris is an herb belonging to the mint family (lamiaceae). The essence of this plant contain the phenols such as thymol and carvacrol, cymene, linalool, pinene. The aim of this study was to investigate the inhibitory effect of the constituents of the thymus vulgaris extract on the activity of α-glucosidase enzyme by molecular docking.
Methods: In this study, to investigate how the compounds are attached to the active site of the enzyme, mapping of chemical structure of the compounds, energy optimization, docking studies and final analysis were carried out by ChemDraw, HyperChem, AutoDock 4.2, DS Visualizer and Lig Pluto software, respectively.
Results: All of the studied compounds were able to occupy the active site of the enzyme, among all of them, the best results of docking was  related to the combination of Caryophlla-4- (12), 8 (13) -dien-5-β-ol. In fact, this compound has the most negative energy level of connection, the highest affinity for binding to the active site of the enzyme and the interaction site is similar to that of the co-crystal molecule.
Conclusion: considering the high efficacy of plant extract compounds in the bioinformatics study, and for complementary studies, the effect of the extract of this plant can be analyzed in order to control the increase of glucose in vitro and in vivo conditions. 

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Background: Diabetes is a metabolic abnormality in the body caused by the high activity of the α-glucosidase enzyme in the hydrolysis of carbohydrates to glucose. Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors involved in the digestion of carbohydrates, play a key role in controlling diabetes. Thymus vulgaris is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae with a chromosome number of 2n = 30. The essential oil of this plant has phenolic compounds such as thymol, carvacrol, cymene, linalool, and pinene. The aim of this study was to investigate the inhibitory effect of the main compounds found in the thyme extract on the activity of alpha-glucosidase by in vitro methods.

Methods: Extract was used to dissolve thyme powder in distilled water solution. The inhibitory effect of the extracts on the activity of alpha-glucosidase enzyme was investigated. In this experiment, the concentration of each extract that was required to inhibit 50% of the enzyme activity (IC 50) was obtained and compared with the needed acarbose as a positive control.

Results: the results showed that aqueous extract of thyme Thymus vulgaris in all three concentrations (40, 20, 10, and 5 mg/ml) can inhibit the enzyme. And as expected, the concentration of 40 mg / ml was exercised the highest inhibitory effect on the enzyme. IC50 of aqueous extract of thyme Thymus vulgaris was equal to 29%.

Conclusion: Considering the effectiveness of plant extract compounds in in silico and in vitro studies, for supplemental studies, the effect of these plant compounds can be analyzed in vivo conditions.

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of obesity and inactive physical activity, and glucose modulation is of great importance in these individuals. Thyme was studied on type 2 diabetic rats by streptozotocin and high fat diet.
Methods: Male Wistar rats weighing 110±10 g were used in this study. The rats were randomly divided into four groups of Thymus + Exercise, Thymus, Exercise and Control groups. The extract was taken 200 g daily through a gavage syringe. Exercise included: Running on a treadmill at a speed of at least 20 m / min and a maximum of 38 m / min for 60 minutes daily, 5 days a week, for 8 weeks. Serum malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione peroxidase (GTX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) were measured by ELISA method.
Results: Serum MDA and CAT levels were significantly higher in the control group (p = 0.002). The results also showed that there was no significant difference between SOD and GPX levels in different research groups (p = 0.790).
Conclusion: Intermittent exercise (HIIT) and thyme extract can improve oxidative and antioxidant balance in diabetic rats.

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Background: Thymus species have significant amounts of phenolic and flavonoid compounds and demonstrate strong antioxidant activities. Paraoxonase1 act as antioxidant enzyme and protect the low-density lipoprotein against oxidation. In our study we aimed to evaluate the antioxidant capacity of Thymus Kotschyanus Hydroalcoholic extract and its effect on serum paraoxonase 1 activity in healthy and diabetic person.
Methods: The antioxidant activity, and functional groups of the constituents in T. Kotschyanus Hydroalcoholic extract were determined using DPPH free radical scavenging assay, and The FTIR spectroscopy, respectively. Paraoxonase-1 activity was determined in 40 healthy and diabetic persons by measuring the rate of paraoxon hydrolysis substrate to p-nitrophenol, which absorbance was monitored at 405 nm. The data Statistically were analyzed by Duncan's and independent t-test.
Results: The IC50 values (the concentration with scavenging activity of 50%) was found to be 477.5 μg/ml. FTIR spectrum analysis showed biomolecules containing a hydroxyl group and aromatic ring in T. Kotschyanus hydroalcoholic extract. Serum paraoxonase activity in healthy and diabetic humans exposed to the extract at concentration of 1 mg/mL increased by 49.95 ± 3.57% and 51.05 ± 3.25%, respectively. Although there was a significant difference between serum enzyme activity in healthy and diabetic subjects in the presence and absence of the extract but the amount of enzyme activation affected by the extract in two healthy and patient did not show significant difference.
Conclusion: This plant extract increased enzyme activity due to the antioxidant properties and the presence of phenolic compounds in the plant extract.