ANTIDIABETIC EVALUATION OF CHONEMORPHA MACROPHYLLA ROOTS BY IN VIVO METHODS USING MALE WISTAR ALBINO RATS AND ITS MECHANISM OF ACTION

Antidiabetic activity of 95% and 50% ethanol extracts of C. macrophylla roots was evaluated using male Wistar albino rats to gather support for the promising results of glucose uptake against normal control in studies conducted on L-6 muscle cell lines as well as isolated rat hemidiaphragm. Initially, preliminary phytochemical studies were performed and identified the presence of phenolics, flavonoids and their glycosides. Before doing in vivo experiment, by following RRR concept, glucose uptake in L-6 muscle cell lines were performed, detected better glucose uptake against normal control and decided to do in vivo experiments. The estimation of glucose uptake in isolated rat hemidiaphragm treated with the extract was employed for the study of peripheral glucose uptake and the results were significant. Content of blood glucose was high in STZ-diabetic rats as compared to normal rats. Treatment of STZ-diabetic rats with the test extract ME -CM RH significantly reduced the hyperglycaemia when compared with STZ only treated rats. Rats lost their body weight after STZ treatment, which was reversed by the treatment of test extracts and gliclazide. HbA1C levels were higher in the STZ-induced diabetic rats compared to the normal control rats. Treatment with ME-CMRH (methanol eluate – CMRH) decreased the HbA1C level of the STZ induced diabetic rats. Antidiabetic activity of the test extract ME-CMRH at 500 mg/kg body weight dose was comparable with the effect produced by the standard drug gliclazide in restoring the levels of blood glucose, body weight and HbA1C towards normal levels. The above data are indicative of the antidiabetic potential of C. macrophylla roots. In the evaluation of mechanism of action by gene expression studies, upregulation of Glut-4 as well as PPAR-γ were demonstrated.