Abstract:
In the present study, the medicinal plants Artocarpus
heterophyllus, Asteracanthus longifolia, Bambusa valgaris,
Ficus benghalensis and Osbeckia octandra have been
investigated for oral hypoglycaemic activity. Detailed
studies have also been carried out on the toxicity and
possible mode of action of Artocarpus heterophyllus and
Asteracanthus longifolia.
The ability of all the plants under investigation to
lower the fasting blood glucose level and improve the glucose
tolerance in Sprague Dawley rats confirms the presence of
hypoglycaemic activity in these plants. The magnitude of the
hypoglycaemic effects varied with the dosage used and the
time of storage (except for Artocarpus heterophyllus where
the activity did not change on storage up to 3 days). No
significant seasonal differences were observed in any of the
plants investigated.
Investigations carried out with normal human
volunteers and maturity onset diabetic patients revealed that
the medicinal plants, Artocarpus____ heterophyllus and
Asteracanthus longifolia were capable of improving the
glucose tolerance in normal human volunteers and maturity
onset diabetic patients.
Investigations with Artocarpus heterophyllus and
Asteracanthus longifolia showed that the extracts of these
plants had no toxicological effects on the histopathology of
various body organs, liver function, haematological
parameters (haemoglobin concentration, red blood cell count,
white blood cell count and packed cell volume) or on the
reproductive ability of the experimental animals. The
general conditions of the animals also did not change and all
the animals remained in good health through out the
experimental peiod.
Studies on the extrapancreatic effects of the aqueous
extracts of Artocarpus heterophyllus and Asteracanthus
longifolia using Sprague Dawley rats as the expeimental
model, showed that these plant extracts had no effect on the
gluconeogenic capacity of the kidney and the intestinal
glucose absorption. The administration of the plant extracts
prior to glucose loading however, resulted in a significantly
increased glycogen content in the liver and muscle and a
triglyceride content in the adipose tissue in comparision
with rats treated only with the glucose load. The insulinase
activity was markedly inhibited by Artocarpus heterophyllus
while Asteracanthus longifolia had no such effect.
