Context: To evaluate the anti-diabetic activity of Urtica dioica L. in type 2 diabetic model rats.
Objectives:The aim of this study is to explore the effect of water extract of U. dioica on glycemic status, body weight and lipidemic status in type2 diabetic model rats
Materials and Methods:The mature and fresh leaves of U. dioica was collected from the mountain range of Assam in India and the leaves extract was used at a dose of 1.25 g -kg body weight. Type2 diabetes was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of STZ to 48 hours old pups of Long Evans. Experiments for semi-chronic effects were done with continuous feeding of aqueous extract for 14 days at a dose of 1.25 g -kg body weight type 2 diabetic male rats. Serum glucose was estimated by GOD-POD method, serum triglyceride and cholesterol by enzymatic-colorimetric methods.
Results:Water extract showed significant effect on lowering fasting serum glucose levels in type 2 diabetic model rats on 14 th day (14.05 ± 3.4 mmol/l in control vs 8.3 ± 1.4 mmol/l in treated group, p = 0.04). There was significant increase in the body weight of treated group in comparison to the control group (175 ± 8 g in control vs in 168 ± 9 g in treated group on 0 day, p = ns; 193 ± 26 g in control vs in 185 ± 25 g in treated group on 14 th day, p=0.002]. Beneficial effect was observed in lipid although the change was not statistically significant.
Conclusion:The results obtained in this study suggests that U. dioica has hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic activity in type 2 diabetic model rats. This may be due to the histological and functional improvement of β-cells with the consequence of improved insulinemic status.
The effects of Ficus racemosa Linn. fruit extract and fraction on fasting serum glucose levels of normal, type 1 and type 2 diabetic model rats are presented. The aqueous 80% EtOH extract and its water soluble fraction of F. racemosa fruit did not show any serum glucose lowering effect on non-diabetic and type 2 diabetic rats at the fasting condition, whereas the extract showed significant hypoglycaemic effect on the type 1 diabetic model rats. Both the extract and fraction were consistently active in both non-diabetic and types 1 and 2 diabetic model rats when fed simultaneously with glucose load. On the contrary, they were ineffective in lowering blood glucose levels when fed 30 min prior to glucose load. The 1-BuOH soluble part of the ethanol extract exhibited significant antioxidant activity in DPPH free radical scavenging assay. 3-O-(E)-Caffeoyl quinate (1) was isolated for the first time from this plant, which also showed significant antioxidant activity.
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