Anti-hyperlipidemic and anti-diabetic evaluation of ethanolic leaf extract of Catharanthus roseus alone and in combination therapy

Abstract

The use of plants in disease treatment is cost effective and relatively safe. This study was designed to investigate anti-hyperlipidemic and anti-diabetic activity of ethanolic leaf extract of Catharanthus roseus alone and in combination therapy in hyperlipidemic & diabetic mice. Eight groups comprising five mice each were used. Group A was hyperlipidemic control, group B, C, D received atorvastatin (20 mg/kg), leaf extract (200 mg/kg) and leaf extract in combination with atorvastatin (200 mg/kg and 20 mg/kg) orally for 15 days. Group E was diabetic control. Group F, G, H received sitagliptin (40 mg/kg), leaf extract (200 mg/kg) and extract in combination with sitagliptin (200 mg/kg and 40 mg/kg) orally for 7 days. Blood cholesterol levels were measured at 1 st , 5 th , 10 th and 15 th day and fasting blood sugar levels were measured at 2, 12, 24, 72 and 168 hours during treatment. One-way ANOVA with tukeykramer multiple comparison test was used. The chemical characterization of ethanolic extract of Catharanthus roseus leaves showed presence of alkaloids, saponins, tannins and flavonoids. Ethanolic extract of Catharanthus roseus has significant anti-hyperlipidemic & anti-diabetic effects (p<0.05, p<0.01) when compared with control but had not cause significantly increase in anti-hyperlipidemic effects of atorvastatin. While significantly increased the antidiabetic effect of sitagliptin (p<0.05).

Anti-diabetic properties of sadabahar plant

“…In type 2 diabetes, glucose insensitivity linked to GLUT gene dysfunction is common. In diabetic mice fed with an ethanolic extract of Catharanthus roseus leaves in conjunction with sitagliptin, the anti-diabetic benefits were significantly increased (Khadija Azam et al, 2022) [5] . Similar studies have revealed that Catharanthus roseus extracts were found to reduce hyperglycemia and oxidative stress in diabetic rats.…”

“…As a result, Catharanthus roseus could be utilised in conjunction with other treatments to prevent or manage insulin resistance in pre-diabetic patients. The study's findings demonstrated that there was a substantial interaction between metformin and the extract when compared to the medicine alone (Khadija Azam et al, 2022) [5] . The leaf extract of C. roseus possesses multiple mechanistic considerations on the hypoglycemic activity of alphaglucosidase inhibitors and biguanides, conferring synergism of action and effects, including a glibenclamidelike lowering of glucose concentration in the blood, primarily by stimulating a first-phase release of insulin from beta cells in the functioning pancreas, as well as enhance response to glucose entry into obligatory tissues (Sylvester C Ohadoma et al, 2021) [33] .…”