en Pharmacokinetics/Dynamics Pharmacokinetics/Dynamics Experimental research article Experimental research article <p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><b>Introduction: </b><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">&alpha;-amylase is a major form of amylase found in humans and other mammals. It is the special key enzyme involved in carbohydrates breakdown. Inhibition of this enzyme could be used in treatment of diabetes. In this study, the effect of ten Iranian macrolichens on alpha amylase were tested. </font></font></span><span style="font-size: 12px;"><b>Methods: </b><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">Different concentrations of the extracts (25, 50 and 75 mg/ml) were incubated with enzyme substrate solution and activities of enzyme were measured and acarbose was used as the positive control. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) </font></font><i><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">and </font></font></i><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">gradient-elution high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were </font></font><i><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">used </font></font></i><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">to </font></font><i><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">determine </font></font></i><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">the </font></font><i><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">phytochemical </font></font></i><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">compounds of the extracts. </font></font></span><span style="font-size: 12px;"><b>Results: </b><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">The extracts showed a dose dependent inhibitory effect on amylase as </font></font><i><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">Usnea articulata</font></font></i><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">> Ramalina pollinaria> </font></font><i><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">R. hyrcana </font></font></i><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">> </font></font><i><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">Cladonia rei> Flavoparmelia caperata> Parmotrema chinense> Punctelia subrudecta> P. borreri> Hyperphyscia adglutinata> Peltigera praetextata</font></font></i><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">. The highest inhibition of amylase was 60% at extract concentrationa 75 mg/ml in </font></font><i><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">U. articulata</font></font></i><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">. TLC and HPLC for this species proved the presence of the compounds as usnic acid, fumarprotocetraric acid and protocetraric acid. </font></font></span><span style="font-size: 12px;"><b>Conclusion: </b><font face="Arial,Arial"><font face="Arial,Arial">This study showed that, macrolichens have inhibitory properties against &alpha;-amylase and determination of the type of enzyme inhibition by these macrolichen extracts could be provided by successful use of macrolichen chemicals as drug targets.</font></font></span></p> α-glucosidase, Enzymatic reaction, Macrolichens 215 219 http://ppj.phypha.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-884-2&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Tahereh Valadbeigi tvaladbeigi@yahoo.com 3200319475328460016884 3200319475328460016884 Yes Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Ilam University, Ilam, Iran Minoo Shaddel min_shad@yahoo.com 3200319475328460016885 3200319475328460016885 No Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Aja University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran