Abstract
The objective of the study was to evaluate the anti-diabetic activities of methanol extracts of Aloe camperi (AC), Meriandra dianthera (MD) and a polyherbal drug (PH) in diabetes induced Wistar albino rats. A single dose of alloxan monohydrate (150 mg/kg, i.p.) was used to induce diabetes mellitus (DM). Diabetes was confirmed by the elevated blood glucose levels determined after 72 h of induction. Animals with mean fasting blood glucose (FBG) level more than 200 mg/dl were recruited for the experiment. The herbal extracts at doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg and standard drugmetformin (5 mg/kg) were administered orally to the diabetic rats for 21 days and the FBG level was estimated on 0, 7, 14 and 21 days. The herbal extracts showed dose-dependent fall in FBG levels and the result exhibited very significant (P < 0.001) decreases in FBG level by the end of the experimental day as compared to the diabetic control. The highest antihyperglycemic effect was observed by MD extract at 400 mg/kg and was comparable to the standard drug. Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was also conducted on normal rats and thus glucose at 2 g/kg per body weight was loaded via oral gavage to all groups 30 min after extract administration. All the groups showed significant increase (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05) in FBG level at 30 min following glucose loading. The hyperglycemia with glucose challenge was significantly brought down (P < 0.001) by all herbal extracts at 60 and 120 min relative to the negative control. Moreover, acute oral toxicity tests was conducted based on the protocols of OECD-425 and thus the LD50 of the herbal extracts was estimated to be greater than 2000 mg/kg. Statistical analysis was performed using One-Way ANOVA followed by Dunnett’s test for multiple comparisons, and values of ���� < 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. * Corresponding author.
Highlights
Diabetes is a complex and chronic illness characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both
There were only temporary changes in the normal behavioural pattern of the rats administered with A. camperi and M. dianthera; there were no signs and symptoms of acute toxicity and mortality when fed with all the extracts
Post to the extracts’ and standard drug administration (0 min), there were no significant difference in BGL among all the groups (P > 0.05)
Summary
Diabetes is a complex and chronic illness characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both. Diabetes has become one of the major causes of premature illness and death in most countries, mainly through the increased risk of cardiovascular diseases [5] [6]. Diabetes is a leading cause of blindness, amputation and kidney failure. These complications account for much of the social and financial burden of diabetes. The number of people with diabetes was 387 million for 2014 and would be about a double in the 30 years, to reach a total of 592 million by 2035 [7]-[9]. It was estimated that 19.8 million people had diabetes in Africa in 2013 and that would rise to 41.4 million by 2035 [12]. In Eritrea, the DM prevalence of adults was estimated to be 4.89% for 2014 [13]
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