ABSTRACT
Background: Cocos nucifera, belonging to Arecaceae family, holds quite an importance in the Indiantraditional medicinal system. C. nucifera inflorescence (CnI) has been reported in the literature to beuseful in the treatment of diarrhoea, dysentery, diabetes, and dyspepsia. In this study, we aimed toevaluate the efficacy of CnI as an adjuvant with metformin in ameliorating Type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2-DM).Objectives: To evaluate antidiabetic activity of CnI in combination with metformin in Streptozotocin (STZ)induced diabetic rats.Materials and methods: Diabetes was induced in male Wistar rats using streptozotocin (45 mg/kg; i.p.).Plasma glucose level (PGL) was estimated after 72 h of STZ injection. Ethanolic extract of CnI (250 mg/kgand 500 mg/kg) per se and in combination with metformin (22.5 mg/kg) was administered orally oncedaily to rats for a period of 28 days. PGL level was estimated on 7th, 14th and 21st day followed by OralGlucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) and PGL both on the 28th day of treatment. DPPH assay was performed toevaluate antioxidant activity of CnI extract.Results: Extract of CnI (250 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg alone and the combination of extract (250 mg/kg)along with metformin (22.5 mg/kg) significantly decreased PGL (p < 0.0001) on 7th, 14th, 21st and 28thdays. Histopathological analysis of pancreatic tissue showed that treatment with CnI extract per se and incombination with metformin improved the damaged architecture of pancreas.Conclusion: The combination therapy of CnI and metformin produced a significant antidiabetic effectthan that of the extract alone and provides a scientific rationale for their use in antidiabetic therapy as anadjuvant.© 2017 Transdisciplinary University, Bangalore and World Ayurveda Foundation. Publishing Services byElsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).