## 2 Results and Discussions
### Enzyme Inhibitory Activity of Pinus cembra L. Extracts  
The periderm and hybridome extracts of Swiss pine were tested for their potential to inhibit \(\alpha\)-glucosidase and \(\alpha\)-amylase, so as to determine whether they would have potential use in diabetes therapy. The results obtained from the one-way ANOVA test (Table 2) show a moderate, statistically significant inhibitory of both rhytidome and periderm extracts on \(\alpha\)-glucosidase, with inconsistent inhibitory activity across the samples, probably due to the degradation of the enzyme caused by different phytochemicals in the plant extracts (e.g., tannins, that are known to degrade proteins in high concentrations). Among the rhytidome samples, the highest activity was noticed in the sample collected at the altitude of 2429 m from the Rhaetian Alps, and among the periderm samples, the highest activity was observed in the sample harvested from the Retezat mountains at an altitude of 1919 m. In rhytidome extracts, altitude also seems to not have played an important role in the intensity of the enzyme inhibition activity, since the obtained IC\({}_{50}\) values are close to each other. Regarding the inhibition activity on \(\alpha\)-amylase, a lower activity was observed across all samples, with the lowest being among the rhytidome and periderm samples collected from the Maramures mountains at an altitude of 1790 m. The highest inhibition activity \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Sample Code**} & **IC\({}_{50}\) (\(\mu\)g/mL)** & **IC\({}_{50}\) (\(\mu\)g/mL)** \\  & **\(\alpha\)-Glucosidase** & **\(\alpha\)-Amylase** \\ \hline IRI919 & 29.60 \(\pm\) 0.66 \({}^{\text{c}}\) & 459.66 \(\pm\) 30.51 \({}^{\text{c}}\) \\ IIIR1620 & 29.15 \(\pm\) 0.92 \({}^{\text{c}}\) & 662.22 \(\pm\) 21.64 \({}^{\text{d},\text{e}}\) \\ IVR1790 & 34.85 \(\pm\) 0.54 \({}^{\text{e}}\) & 1686.84 \(\pm\) 120.46 \({}^{\text{g}}\) \\ VR2429 & 25.77 \(\pm\) 0.97 \({}^{\text{c},\text{d}}\) & 625.24 \(\pm\) 28.05 \({}^{\text{c},\text{d},\text{e}}\) \\ IP1919 & 16.62 \(\pm\) 0.74 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 108.07 \(\pm\) 1.80 \({}^{\text{b}}\) \\ IIIP1620 & 32.54 \(\pm\) 0.89 \({}^{\text{e},\text{f}}\) & 713.33 \(\pm\) 28.17 \({}^{\text{d},\text{e}}\) \\ IVP1790 & 26.26 \(\pm\) 1.30 \({}^{\text{c},\text{d}}\) & 1399.81 \(\pm\) 97.41 \({}^{\text{f}}\) \\ VP2429 & 31.12 \(\pm\) 1.13 \({}^{\text{c},\text{e}}\) & 813.28 \(\pm\) 16.79 \({}^{\text{d},\text{e}}\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: IC\({}_{50}\) values of the _Pinus cembra_ L. extracts obtained from the \(\alpha\)-glucosidase and \(\alpha\)-amylase inhibition tests. on \(\alpha\)-amylase was observed among the samples collected in the Retezat mountains at the altitude of 1919 m.  
Antidiabetic potentials of pine species have been assessed formerly, the findings from a study performed by [PERSON] et al. suggest that the ethanolic bark extract of _Pinus roxburghii_ showed a significant decrease in blood glucose levels after administering the extracts in rats induced with diabetes through alloxan injections [17]. Another study performed by [PERSON] et al. tested the inhibition activity on \(\alpha\)-glucosidase and \(\alpha\)-amylase of a series of _Pinus_ species: _Pinus engelmannii_, _Pinus arizonica_, _Pinus durangensis_, and _Pinus__embroides_. It was found that all foliar extracts analyzed were more active on \(\alpha\)-glucosidase inhibition than acarpose (an antidiabetic drug), but less active than acarpose on inhibiting \(\alpha\)-amylase, underlining the fact that there is an important antidiabetic potential in _Pinus_ species [15]. _Pinus__embra_ L. has not been formally assessed in order to determine its enzyme inhibitory activity and therefore antidiabetic properties, which constitutes an element of novelty in the present study. In Figure 4, we analyzed Spearman's correlation coefficients between the periderm and the rhytidome of _Pinus__embra_ L. extracts, for TPC, DPPH, ABTS, \(\alpha\)-glucosidase, and \(\alpha\)-amylase.