Abstract
Hibiscus is commonly used traditionally for the treatment of some diseases such as hypertension and as antidiabetic herbal medicine. The objective of the present study is to investigate the effect of the oral administration of aqueous methanolic extract of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis leaves (400 mg/Kg) on streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic rats and alteration in liver and kidney functions. The treatment of diabetic rats with hibiscus leaves extract reduced levels of plasma glucose, cholesterol, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), uric acid and creatinine and hepatic malondialdehyde that was elevated in diabetic rats. Moreover, the Hibiscus leaves extract mitigates the decrease in hepatic superoxide dismutase and plasma protein levels due to STZ injection. The treatment of rats with STZ only results in some pathological effects in liver and kidneys as degeneration in most of hepatocyte and glomeruli. The extract of H. rosa-sinensis leaves reduced the pathological changes. The treatment of diabetic rats with Hibiscus extract was shown to have hepatic and renal protective effects in diabetic rats induced experimentally. Here, two compounds, that is, orientin (Luteolin-8-C-glucoside) and verbascoside (phenylpropanoids glycoside) were isolated from H. rosa-sinsensis. The two compounds were identified by spectral analysis (UV, 1H and 13C-NMR). These results clearly indicate that aqueous leaves extract of H. rosa-sinensis possess antidiabetic and hypolipidemic effects in diabetic rats which may be due to antioxidant properties of the hibiscus extract. Key words: Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, hypoglycemic, antioxidant, orientin, verbascoside.
Highlights
The plant kingdom represents a large reservoir of biologically active compounds as drugs, and as unique templates that could serve as a starting point for synthetic analogs
The EtOAc and BuOH fractions were subjected to different column chromatography on Silica gel and Sephedex L-H-20 column led to the isolation of orientin from the EtOAc fraction and verbascoside from the BuOH fraction
The body weight of diabetic rats treated with hibiscus extract did not change significantly as compared to values of zero time or values of glibenclamide group
Summary
The plant kingdom represents a large reservoir of biologically active compounds as drugs, and as unique templates that could serve as a starting point for synthetic analogs. Numerous biologically active plants are discovered by evaluation of ethnopharmacological data, and these plants may offer accessible therapeutic products (Aquino et al, 1995). Numerous medicinal plants are used traditionally for treatment and
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