Antidiabetic effect of Nelumbo nucifera (Gaertn) extract: Part II

Abstract

Earlier studies showed that the extract of Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn., an aquatic Indian plant, produced hypoglycaemia and an improvement of glucose tolerance in normal rabbits. Further investigations were undertaken. Chronic administration of plant extracts (test drugs) to normal rats did not produce a sustained fall of fasting blood sugar levels although daily doses caused hypoglycaemia as an acute effect; concurrent glucose tolerance studies showed beneficial effects. In uitro studies with rat hemidiaphragms revealed that test drug treatment of donor animals significantly enhanced the effect of insulin. The improvement of glucose tolerance therefore may also be due to increased peripheral glucose utilization caused by increased sensitivity of skeletal muscles to endogenous insulin. Comparative studies were also carried out in moderately diabetic rabbits using test drugs (equivalent to lo00 mg/kg of crude material) and standard drugs phenformin and tolbutamide (100 mg/kg each). The test drugs showed acute and chronic effects in suppressing hyperglycaemia, but were less potent than standard drugs. However, test drugs significantly improved glucose tolerance in these animals. With severely diabetic rabbits, these drugs proved to be ineffective even at four-fold higher doses. Toxicity studies in normal rats did not show any deleterious effect on kidney, heart or liver during an 8-week study period.

Rediscovering Medicinal Plants' Potential with OMICS: Microsatellite Survey in Expressed Sequence Tags of Eleven Traditional Plants with Potent Antidiabetic Properties

“…An extensive literature survey revealed 11 plants having proven antidiabetic properties that are largely distributed across the geographical niche of NE India. The plants include: Ananas comosus (pineapple), Carica papaya (papaya), Catharanthus roseus (noyontara), Citrus aurantium (bitter orange), Cynodon dactylon (bermuda grass), Dioscorea alata (ratalu), Jatropha curcas (barbados nut), Mangifera indica (mango), Morus indica (mulberry), Nelumbo nucifera (lotus), and Tinospora cordifolia (guduchi) (Aderibigbe et al, 1999;Xie et al, 2005;Huralikuppi et al, 2006;Jarald et al, 2008;Sharma et al, 2008;Mishra et al, 2010;Rasineni et al, 2010;Kumar et al, 2010;Maithili et al, 2011;Juarez-Rojop et al, 2012;Sangeetha et al, 2013). Although much progress have been made in recent years in many medicinal plants, the study of genetic potential and improvement through molecular breeding has not been attempted to date for the above mentioned plants.…”

Effects of Fractionated Neem Leaf Extract (IRC) on Blood Glucose Level in Alloxan Induced Diabetic Wistar Rats

“…In this study the evaluation of the hypoglycaemic Alloxan-induced diabetic state may result in a complete or partial loss of pancreatic B-cell activity producing severe or moderate diabetes [26]. The severe diabetes produced by alloxan results in blood glucose levels equivalent to a total pancreatomy while the moderate diabetes may mimick the type II diabetic model in which there is a partial destruction of the β-cells.…”

Pharmacognostic Study of a Plant Seed Extract

“…These may be classified by measuring the animals' fasting blood sugar (FBS) level. Moderate DM is defined as FBS level of 180-250 mg/dl and severe DM as FBS level above 250 mg/dl in rabbits [34]. The simplistic argument made against the use of alloxan to induce type 2 DM is that alloxan produces β cell damage, thus leading to type 1 rather than type 2 DM.…”