The Hypolipidaemic Effects of the Partially Purified “Hypoglycaemic Agent” of Aqueous Leaf Extract of Albizzia chevalieri Harms.

Abstract

Aqueous leaf extract of Albizzia chevalieri and its fractions have been reported to possess significant hypoglycaemic effect. In the current work the effects of aqueous leaf extract of Albizzia chevalieri and the column chromatographic fractions, of the extract with hypoglycaemic effect, on serum lipid profile of alloxan induced diabetic rats were studied. The aqueous extract was fractionated with organic solvents and the fractions further fractionated using column chromatography. The results indicated that the aqueous leaf extract caused significant (P<0.05) decrease in triacylglycerol (14 %), LDL-cholesterol (16 %), VLDL-cholesterol (19 %) and atherogenic index (45 %). The hexane fraction of the aqueous extract which was reported to possess significant hypoglycaemic effect caused significant reduction in serum total cholesterol (57 %), triacylglycerol (29 %), LDL-cholesterol (75 %), VLDL-cholesterol (67 %) and atherogenic index (72 %) in the rats. The second elution fraction of the hexane fraction from the column, which is dark brown in colour and was earlier reported to contain the hypoglycaemic agent also reduced the serum levels of total cholesterol, triacylglycerol, LDL-cholesterol, VLDL-cholesterol and atherogenic index by 66, 54, 78, 80 and 76 % respectively. These results may be indicative of the fact that the aqueous leaf extract of Albizzia chevalieri, in addition to it hypoglycaemic activity, also possesses significant hypolipidaemic effect. It may be worthwhile therefore to study the nature and mechanism of action(s) of the agent(s) responsible for the observed effects.