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Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a prevalent metabolic syndrome that is associated with high blood glucose levels. When diet and exercise fail to control hyperglycemia, patients are forced to start therapy with antidiabetic agents. These drugs cause several drawbacks that can affect the course of treatment; however, due to the side effects of these drugs, plant extract and bioactive compounds with antidiabetic properties are gaining as alternative treatment for diabetes. Natural products are biocompatible, cheaper, and expected to cause few side effects and patient compliance to therapy is reduced. Over the past few years', nanotechnology has found in the development of novel delivery modalities that effectively enhance antidiabetic regimen efficacy. Efforts have been targeted toward the protection of the drug by encapsulating it into a nanocarrier system and efficiently release the drug in a gradual as well as controllable manner. These systems have been applied to overcome the limitations and improve the efficacy of plant-based antidiabetic drugs. The main challenges in the formulations of plant-based nanocarriers are the loading capacity of the plant extract and the stability of the carriers. A special emphasis is placed on metallic nanoparticles with their advantages and associated complications being reported to high light their effectiveness for treating hyperglycemia. The additional inputs of nanotechnological approaches regarding exploration of herbal potential may lead to certain novel drug molecules and act as an advantage in management of diabetes for betterment of mankind.