Hypoglycemic, antioxidant and antihyperlipidemic effects of the aqueous sepal extracts of salmalia malabarica in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat

Abstract

The hypoglycemic effect of the aqueous sepal extracts of Salmalia malabarica Schott & Endl. in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rat was studied by monitoring the biomarkers of carbohydrate metabolism, serum lipid profile and oxidative status of metabolic organs. Measurement of fasting blood glucose level (FBG), activities of important carbohydrate metabolic enzymes like glucose-6-phosphatase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and hexokinase in liver along with quantification of glycogen in liver and skeletal muscle were carried out. In order to study the effect of the extract on hyperlipidemia and oxidative injury in diabetes, serum levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLc), very low density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDLc), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLc) and the activities of catalase (CAT), peroxidase (Px), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), superoxide dismutase (SOD) as well as the levels of conjugated diene (CD) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) in liver, kidney and cardiac muscle were measured. The extract displayed no toxic effect in general, which was shown by monitoring glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT) and glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT) activities in liver and kidney. Moreover, it exhibited a corrective effect on all of these bio-markers of the STZ-induced diabetic group, which were comparable with the standard drug metformin. This study confirmed the therapeutic efficacy of the sepal extracts of S. malabarica in experimental diabetic rat.

Keywords: hypoglycemic, sepals, Salmalia malabarica, antioxidative, antihyperlipidemic