Lack of antidiabetic effect of ethanolic extract of leaves of Solanum trilobatum Linn (Solanaceae)

Abstract

Objective: The objective was to study the antidiabetic properties of ethanolic extract of the leaves of Solanum trilobatum (EEST) in streptozocin (STZ)-induced diabetics in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Materials and Methods: EEST was prepared by using hot percolation method and the extract was used for antidiabetic screening. The SD rats were divided into six groups each of six animals, namely normal control, diabetic control, glibenclamide and EEST-treated groups at 125, 250, and 500 mg/kg. Except normal control animals, all the other animals were induced diabetes with intraperitoneal injection of STZ (55 mg/kg). The control and diabetic animals were treated with respective assigned treatment once daily for 21 consecutive days. The blood glucose was monitored at regular intervals and biochemical parameters such as aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, urea, and creatinine were measured with terminal sample. At the end of the study, the animals were sacrificed; lung, heart, stomach, liver, and kidney were harvested and absolute organ weight was measured. Results: The rats administrated with the extracts at dose of 500 mg/kg body weight (BW)/day showed significant antidiabetic activity and this effect was comparable with that of glibenclamide. The diabetic control animals showed significant increased levels of total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), HDL ratio, very-low-density lipoprotein, and glibenclamide, and EEST prevented STZ-induced cholesterol impairments. EEST did not show any significant antidiabetic effect at 125 and 250 mg/kg BW/day treated rats. Conclusion: EEST showed significant antidiabetic activity at 500 mg/kg and prevented STZ-induced metabolic changes in experimental animals. EEST did not show any antidiabetic activity in diabetic animals treated with 125 and 250 mg/kg of EEST.