Euphorbia hirta L. is an herbaceous plant used in traditional medicine to treat several diseases. In the present work, different fractions of Euphorbia hirta L. hydroalcoholic extract were investigated for their anti-diabetic properties on α-glucosidase’s inhibition activities. Chemical screening realized following Folin-Ciocalteu and AlCl3 methods showed that ethyl acetate (AcOET) and butanol (BuOH) extracts contain 432.687 ± 1.832 μg and 332.433 ± 1.255 μg GAE/mg of extract for phenolic compounds. The same extracts contained high levels of total flavonoids estimated at 417.850 ± 15.941 μg and 227.640 ± 2.657 μg QE/mg of extract respectively. The anti-diabetic activities revealed that AcOET and BuOH have a very significant inhibitory potential on the enzymatic activity of α-glucosidase with an IC50 values of 1.295 ± 0.035 μg/mL and 2.188 ± 0.204 μg/mL respectively compared to acarbose (IC50 = 214.825 ± 3.816 μg/mL).

Euphorbia hirta L, α-glucosidase, diabetes, flavonoids