Phytochemical identification of Lithocarpus polystachyus extracts by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–quadrupole time-of-flight–MS and their protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B and α-glucosidase activities

Lithocarpus polystachyus leaves exhibit antidiabetic activity and is consumed as a herbal tea in China. In this study, phytochemical profiles of L. polystachyus leaves were identified and characterized by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–quadrupole time-of-flight–MS in both positive and negative ion modes. A total of 17 compounds were tentatively characterized and identified by accurate mass and characteristic fragment ions. The total phenolic contents in the leaf extracts ranged from 9.0 to 13.4 g gallic acid equivalents/100 g of dry weight (DW). In addition, the effect of these extracts on inhibiting the activities of α-glucosidase and protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) were evaluated. L. polystachyus extracts demonstrated significant inhibition of α-glucosidase (more than 88.1% at a concentration of 1.25 mg/mL) and acarbose (93.6% at a concentration of 5 mg/mL) while the PTP1B inhibition rate was over 84.3%. The antioxidant capacities of the leaf extracts were determined using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, ABTS, and ferric reducing ability of plasma methods and ranged from 50.5 to 72.5 g trolox, from 43.2 to 77.7 g trolox, and from 5.0 to 10.6 g butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT; equaling trolox or BHT per 100 g of DW), respectively. Based on these results, L. polystachyus can be considered as a functional food owing to its antidiabetic and antioxidative activities, which are attributed to its rich phenolic and dihydrochalcone contents.