The screening was part of the Department of Biotechnology's Twinnings Research and Development project that fosters collaboration with scientists from the northeastern states of India and national institutions from other parts of the country.

Found across India, leaves and flowers of the shrubby Hibiscus mutabilis are used to treat swellings and skin infections.

The samples - Hibiscus leaves - were collected from the scenic northeast region.

Alak Kumar Buragohain, professor, Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Tezpur University, explained that the compound, a type of polyphenol, removes a block in the insulin signalling pathway and enables it to perform its normal function of clearing glucose (blood sugar) from the bloodstream.

"In diabetes, insulin sensitivity is retarded. The isolated compound can restore sensitivity and, therefore, cells can sense presence of insulin," Buragohain, at present the vice chancellor of Dibrugarh University in Assam, told IANS over the phone.

A staggering 347 million people worldwide have diabetes, with WHO projecting that it will be the seventh leading cause of death in 2030.

Bhattacharya said identification of possible drug therapy targets in the body's insulin utilisation pathway, as well as molecules (inhibitors) that can hinder insulin from losing its sensitivity, is of vital importance in designing drugs.

Incidentally, the current finding forms a crucial link to a 2012 study led by Bhattacharya that unravelled the puzzle of how a protein secreted by the liver into the bloodstream (Fetuin-A) hampers insulin activity.

"Probably, there isn't any known inhibitor of Fetuin-A, a protein associated with insulin insensitivity. By blocking Fetuin-A, ferulic acid restores sensitivity of cells towards insulin and lowers blood sugar level," said Bhattacharya, also a National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) senior scientist.

Other researchers of the study are Bhaskarjyoti Gogoi and Suman Dasgupta from Tezpur University and Priyajit Chatterjee and Sandip Mukherjee from Visva-Bharati.

According to Buragohain, the next step would be to purify the chemicals and assess their toxicity to the body.
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