| dc.description.abstract |
Protease inhibitors are well known to have several applications in medicine and biotechnology.
Several plant sources are known to return potential protease inhibitors. In this study plants
belonging to different families of Leguminosae, Malvaceae, Rutaceae, Graminae and Moringaceae
were screened for the protease inhibitor. Among them Moringa oleifera, belonging to the family
Moringaceae, recorded high level of protease inhibitor activity after ammonium sulfate fractionation.
M. oleifera, which grows throughout most of the tropics and having several industrial and
medicinal uses, was selected as a source of protease inhibitor since so far no reports were made
on isolation of the protease inhibitor. Among the different parts of M. oleifera tested, the crude
extract isolated from the mature leaves and seeds showed the highest level of inhibition against trypsin.
Among the various extraction media evaluated, the crude extract prepared in phosphate buffer
showed maximum recovery of the protease inhibitor. The protease inhibitor recorded high inhibitory
activity toward the serine proteases thrombin, elastase, chymotrypsin and the cysteine |
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