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Abstract

Recent reports show that germination process increases the hypoglycemic activity of seeds many fold, and can act in a better way for diabetes management. Despite large use of fenugreek seeds than any part of the plant for the treatment of broad range of maladies including diabetes, the anti-diabetic effects of germinated seeds have not been assessed. In the present study, the effect of 21 days oral administration of germinated fenugreek seed extracts (100mg/kg bw, 200mg/kg bw, and 300mg/kg bw) on various biochemical markers like blood, glucose, blood insulin, hepatic glycogen content and key molecular markers of insulin signalling pathway in STZ-induced diabetic rats were assessed. Compared to its respective seed extract, the aqueous sprout extracts from IL8 seed genotype showed significantly higher hypoglycemic activity against the diabetic state and the best dose was established to be 300mg/kg bw. The antidiabetic effect of sprout extracts were quite comparable to standard antidiabetic drug, Voglibiose (1mg/kg bw). The germinated seed extract normalised significantly, various dysregulated biochemical and molecular markers of insulin signalling pathway than their seeds including Akt2 and GSK-3β and GS in the diabetic rats within 21 days of experimental period. To best of our knowledge, we report for the first time that germination of fenugreek seeds increases their antdiabetic activity many fold than their respective seeds. We also demonstrated a mechanistic rationale of germinated fenugreek seeds to be used alone or as an adjuvant to current therapies for better management of diabetes.