Published Paper Details:

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a global metabolic pandemic with an estimated 451 million people affected worldwide, with this figure being projected to increase to 693 million by 2045. Although effective, conventional antidiabetic pharmacotherapy is plagued by adverse effects, drug resistance, and high cost, fostering renewed scientific interest in plant-derived therapeutics. India contains an abundant source of ethnomedicinal plants with traditional applications in glycaemic management, many of which have not been fully characterized at the molecular level. Purposes: This is a review in which the evidence is systematically consolidated on (i) pharmacology of antidiabetic phytoconstituents, (ii) already established and emerging strategies of extraction and isolation, (iii) already validated pharmacological models of antidiabetic screening, and (iv) spectroscopic methodologies of structural characterization of bioactive compounds. Methods: A thorough literature review was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar using the following keywords: antidiabetic plants, phytoconstituents, bioactive compounds, ?-amylase inhibition, ?-glucosidase inhibition, LC-MS, GC-MS, and Indian medicinal plants. After quality appraisal, articles that were published between 2000 and 2024 were included. Findings: More than 400 plant species have been reported to have hypoglycaemic potential, with flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids, glycosides and tannins being the major pharmacologically active classes. One of them is the inhibition of carbohydrate-hydrolyzing enzymes (?-amylase and ?-glucosidase), stimulation of pancreatic insulin secretion, upregulation of GLUT4, and AMPK activation. Soxhlet extraction, Maceration, and Ultrasound-assisted extraction have been commonly used for isolation, whereas HR-LC-MS and GC-MS have been employed as gold standards for structural elucidation. The alloxan- and streptozotocin-induced rodent models continue to predominate as in vivo systems for the validation of antidiabetic agents. Conclusion: India harbors a scientifically underexplored phytochemical reservoir with high potential for the discovery of antidiabetic drugs. Fractionation guided by bioactivity, coupled with high-resolution spectroscopic detection, is a strong pipeline for revealing new, safe, and effective lead compounds. Molecular docking, ADMET profiling, and phase I/II clinical trials should be the focus of future research to translate preclinical results into therapeutic applications.