266COMPUTATIONAL CHARACTERIZATION OF ANTIDIABETIC PHYTOCHEMICALS FROM GYMNEMASYLVESTRE: A MOLECULAR DOCKING STUDY OF ASTRAGALINDiabetes mellitus (DM), specifically type 2 diabetes, is a worldwide metabolic syndrome associated with such complications as cardiovascular disease, kidney failure and neuropathy. Although traditional medicines such as metformin and sulfonylureas are effective, their effect reduces with time, which creates a tendency to resort to alternative medicine. Gymnemasylvestre is a traditional medicinal herb that has bioactive compounds like Astragalin that have been proven to have antidiabetic effects. This paper has employed molecular docking which analyzes the interaction of Astragalin with the Human Multidrug Resistance Protein 1 Nucleotide Binding Domain 1 (PDB ID: 2CBZ) and compared the binding affinity of Astragalin to the interaction with Glibenclamide, a standard diabetes medication. The experiment results revealed that Astragalin had a similar MolDock score (-83.62) and more strong hydrogen bond interactions (-13.79) compared to Glibenclamide. These results indicate that Astragalin has a potential to become a rather successful alternative or complement to conventional antidiabetic drugs. The study needs further experimental confirmation to investigate its therapeutic applicationsivanageshmekala@yahoo.comResearch1612026Diabetes, Astragalin, Gymnemasylvestre, molecular docking, GlibenclamideDr. Ali Said Yussuf1, Dr. Siva Nageswara Rao Mekala1Department of Surgery, The State University of Zanzibar, Tanzania. 2Department of Clinical Pharmacology, The State University of Zanzibar – Tanzania.