Comparative Glycaemic Indices of a Four Herbal Combinatorial Formulation Administered On Wistar Rats

Abstract

Objective: The effect of dietary incorporation of ethanolic extracts of single and combinatorial formulations of Acanthus montanus (ACMO), Asystaciagangetica (ASGA), Gongronemalatifolium (GOLA) and Solanummelongena (SOME) on glucose tolerance was studied in normoglycaemicWistar rats. Methods: A total of 128 Wistar rats were used for the research work. The rats were divided into 32 groups of 4 rats each. One group was the normal control group and 15 groups were orally administered 200mg/kg body weight extract(s) for the single and combinatorial formulations. Another group (negative control) was given oral glucose load (4g/100ml) of 200mg/kg body weight alone and the remaining 15 groups were given oral glucose load (4g/100ml) of 200mg/kg body weight before giving the test extract(s) of 200mg/kg body weight. Results: Post-prandial serum glucose response at 30 minutes interval was plotted and the area under the curve (AUC) used to determine glycaemic index (GI) of each herbs. The herbs (ACMO, ASGA, GOLA and SOME) resulted in a marked improvement in oral glucose tolerance in rats after 10 days of treatment at an interval of 2 days. Blood glucose concentration (mmol/l) of rats administered with the combinations; ACMO+GOLA, ACMO+SOME, SOME+GOLA, ACMO+SOME+GOLA+GLU, ACMO+ASGA+GOLA, ACMO+SOME+GOLA and ACMO+ASGA+GOLA+SOME was found to belowered, with ACMO+ASGA+GOLA combination having the best result. This might be a result of hypoglycaemic synergy promoted by the various bioactive principles present in the combined extracts thereby lowering the GI. These findings revealed that the listed combinations have hypoglycaemic potentials and habitual consumption could positively modulate oral glucose tolerance. Conclusion: The herbs could be useful in the dietary management of diabetes as they could help regulate blood glucose level when consumed with normal meals and could also be incorporated into meals to prevent or delay the onset of diabetes or reverse the same in its early stages.