Antidiabetic Activity and Immunostimulant Potential of Bosibosi (Timonius flavescens (Jacq) Baker) Leaves Ethanol Extract in Alloxan-Induced Diabetic Rats

Abstract

The number of people with diabetes mellitus (DM) is increasing alarmingly from year to year. Efforts to find cheap, safe and effective natural ingredients for DM are becoming increasingly important. This study was aimed to study the antidiabetic and immunostimulant properties of bosibosi (Timonius flavescens) leaves ethanol extract (LEE) in alloxan-induced diabetic female Wistar rats. Diabetic animals (2 mo, 150-190 g bw) were induced by ip administration of alloxan (175 mg/kg bw) after 24 hrs fasting. Animals were randomly distributed into 4 different groups (5 rats each), group I (normal rats, treated with NaCl), gorup II (diabetic rats, treated with N aCl), group III (diabetic, treated with metformin, 250 mg/kg bw), and group IV (diabetic rats, treated with LEE, 500 mg/kg bw). All ingredients (total volume 1 mL) were administered orally for 14 consecutive days. Blood samples were taken from the ventral tail vein on days 0, 7 and 14 for blood glucose determination. On day 14, rats were fasted (24 hrs), anesthetized and cardiac punctured for blood sample (5 mL) for leucocyte analysis. Blood glucose level of diabetic rats with EED (IV) was significantly lower than diabetic mice without LEE (II) (p <0.05). There was no significant difference in blood glucose level between LEE (IV) and normal (I) and metformin (III) rats. LEE also significantly increased the relative weight of lymph, the number of lymphocyte compared to normal (normal, non-diabetic) animals. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the ethanol extract of bosibosi leaves has antidiabetic activity and immunostimulant properties.