Chamomile and oregano extracts synergistically exhibit antihyperglycemic, antihyperlipidemic, and renal protective effects in alloxan-induced diabetic rats

Abstract

The bio-activities of separate Matricaria chamomilla (chamomile) and Origanum vulgare (oregano) are well studied; however, the combined effects of both natural products in animal diabetic models are not well characterized. In this study, alloxan-induced male albino rats were treated with single dose aqueous suspension of chamomile or oregano at dose level of either 150 or 300 mg/kg body mass or as equal parts as combination by stomach tube for 6 weeks. After treatment, blood samples were assessed for diabetic, renal, and lipid profiles. Insulin, amylase activity, and diabetic renal apoptosis were further evaluated. Treatment with higher dose of the extracts (300 mg/kg) as individual or as mixture of low doses (150 mg/kg of both the extracts) had significant mass gain, hypoglycemic effect (p ≤ 0.05) with decreased amylase activity and increased serum insulin levels. Restoration of renal profile, lipid profile with increase in HDL-c (p ≤ 0.05) along with reversal of pro-apoptotic Bax and anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 were well observed with 300 mg/kg mixture, showing synergistic activity of the extracts compared with individual low dose of 150 mg/kg. Collectively, our results indicate that combination of chamomile and oregano extracts will form a new class of drugs to treat diabetic complications.

The synergistic potential of various teas, herbs and therapeutic drugs in health improvement: a review

“…(A) The anti‐diarrhoeal activities of a mixture of chamomile and star anise . (B) Hypoglycaemic effect of chamomile, oregano, and their combination at 150 mg kg −1 in 3 weeks and 6 weeks treatment, respectively . (C) Glycaemic index of ginger roots, 25 g L −1 ; green tea, 25 g L −1 ; cinnamon bark, 25 g L −1 ; and a combination of these three herbs at 8.33 g L −1 each …”

“…117 Saponins, amphipathic glycosides which occur naturally in tea and other food items, enhance the permeability of the small intestinal mucosal cells, thereby increasing uptake of wileyonlinelibrary.com/jsfa 17 (B) Hypoglycaemic effect of chamomile, oregano, and their combination at 150 mg kg −1 in 3 weeks and 6 weeks treatment, respectively. 115 (C) Glycaemic index of ginger roots, 25 g L −1 ; green tea, 25 g L −1 ; cinnamon bark, 25 g L −1 ; and a combination of these three herbs at 8.33 g L −1 each. 90 substances that would not be normally absorbed.…”

Rational combinations of indirubin and arylidene derivatives exhibit synergism in human non‐small cell lung carcinoma cells

“…Further, the present study exhibits more than individual additive cytotoxic effect in the tested combinations as observed in Figure . To rationalize the observed combination, two different formulas were used to study synergism as described elsewhere (Prasanna, Ashraf, & Essam, ). Table uses a formula to calculate the expected rational outcome of the combination based on the individual treatment effects.…”

“…The present results also demonstrate that I3M, FXY‐1 or their combinations inhibit the growth of A549 and NCI‐H460 cells by inducing DNA damage as revealed by characteristic changes in M4 or Sub G 0 peak of the flow cytometry histogram . Reports suggest anticancer compounds could initially arrest the proliferating cells in the growth phase of the cell cycle and then induce cell death by apoptosis (Perabo, Landwehrs, Frossler, Schmidt, & Mueller, ). Our observations of the reduction in the G 1 (M 1 ) growth phase and subsequent increase in the sub G 0 (M 4 ) phase of individual and combination treatments stands in line with these observations.…”

“…Figure 2. To rationalize the observed combination, two different formulas were used to study synergism as described elsewhere (Prasanna, Ashraf, & Essam, 2016). Table 1 uses a formula to calculate the expected rational outcome of the (Ahn et al, 2015).…”