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Lavandula angustifolia Mill. (lavender) is one of the most used medicinal plants. Herein, we chemically characterised and investigated the antioxidant properties and the capability to inhibit key enzymes for the treatment of type 2 diabetes (TD2) and obesity such as pancreatic lipase, α-glucosidase, and α-amylase of the ethanolic extract of two lavender samples (La1 and La2) from southern Italy. Both extracts significantly inhibited α-glucosidase, while La1 inhibited α-amylase and lipase more effectively than La2. To investigate whether these properties could be due to a direct interaction of the main constituents of the extracts with the targeted enzymes, molecular docking studies have been performed. As a result, the selected compounds were able to interact with the key residues of the binding site of the three proteins, thus supporting biological data. Current findings indicate the new potential of lavender ethanolic extract for the development of novel agents for T2D and obesity.

Lavandula angustifolia is one of the most popular medicinal plants, and is a rich source of bioactive compounds. Most of the studies on lavender have focused on its essential oil and its use as a sleep aid, calmative, fragrant, insect repellant and flavoring agent. This work is aimed at investigating, for the first time, the potential role of L. angustifolia in the management of metabolic syndrome (MetS), one of the major and escalating public-health and clinical challenges worldwide. Herein, the aerial parts of L. angustifolia, collected in June 2021 in the “Parco Nazionale del Pollino”, Southern Italy, were subjected to extraction by maceration with ethanol. Then, the total extract was partitioned with solvents at different polarities such as n-hexane, dichloromethane and ethyl acetate. The extract and fractions were evaluated for their ability to inhibit alpha-glucosidase as well as lipase. The ethanol extract remarkably inhibited α-glucosidase and lipase (IC50 of 2.55 and 30.50 μg/mL, respectively) better than the positive control acarbose and orlistat (IC50 of 35.51 and 37.12 μg/mL, respectively). The most active fraction was dichloromethane with an IC50 of 14.67 and 17.64 μg/mL, against α-glucosidase and lipase, respectively. Taking into account the obtained results, L. angustifolia could be used for the formulation of new products; however, further preclinical studies will be needed to confirm its in vivo efficacy, as well as to prove the safety of the tested extracts and fractions.

Statins are the pharmacological inhibitors of cholesterol biosynthesis, acting on key enzyme 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGR). They are the most effective class of drugs used to treat cardiovascular disease, the main cause of mortality in westernized countries. Our major goal was to investigate the hypocholesterolaemic effects of the 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl flavanones enriched fraction (HMGF), extracted from bergamot fruit, in comparison with one of the most used statins, i.e. simvastatin, in a rat model. HMGF and simvastatin reduced the total cholesterol (TC), triacylglycerols (TG), very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) and low-density lipoproteins (LDL) levels, whereas an increase of the high-density lipoproteins (HDL) content was observed exclusively in the HMGF treated rats. Additionally, an appreciable increase of HMGR, LDL receptor (LDLR) and fatty acid synthase (FASN) was evidenced, at mRNA and protein levels. HMGF did not exhibit genotoxic effects and was cytotoxic only at elevated concentrations. The daily supplementation of HMGF in the diet could be very effective for the treatment of hypercholesterolaemia.