Hemidesmus indicusroot extract ameliorates diabetes-mediated metabolic changes in rats

Abstract

India has more than 40 million diabetic people that represent nearly 20% of total diabetes population worldwide. Allopathic medicines are currently used for control of diabetes but often they are overprescribed or found to be dangerous on long-term use due to its toxicity and side effects. Plant-based remedies remain to be one of the most popular complementary treatments for diabetes mellitus and are considered to be natural and comparatively safe. Traditionally, many plants are used in Ayurveda, Sidha and folklore systems of medicines to treat diabetes mellitus, but the pharmacognostic and pharmacological studies on many of these plants are yet to be performed. Hence, the present study aims to explore the anti-diabetic activity of Hemidesmus indicus roots in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. The oral administration of aqueous extract at doses of 500 mg/kg significantly reduced the blood glucose within 5 h and 12-week treatment reverted the altered levels of insulin, glycosylated hemoglobin, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), g-glutamyl transferase (g—GT) and creatine kinase (CK) to near normal levels in diabetic rats. The results of the present study suggest that H. indicus administration not only reduces blood glucose but also offers protection to diabetes-induced metabolic alterations in rats. Key words: Diabetes mellitus, Hemidesmus indicus, metabolic changes, streptozotocin