ABSTRACT
Diabetes touches approximately 5% of Côte-d’Ivoire population. This is a worrying prevalence rate. Our search for means of fighting this affection made us to develop an herbal medicine from decoction of Boerhavia diffusa leaves. An ethnopharmacological survey conducted in villages of Côted’Ivoire, made us discovered that Boerhavia diffusa is used by traditional healers as antidiabetic. In Laboratory, during the experience we carried out, rabbits received, orally, a solution of glucose (4 g/l). Before administration of glucose, the animals had a basal glycaemia of 1.11 ± 0.04 g/l. The not treated rabbits’ glycaemia increased and reached 1.39 g/l. The oral administration of glibenclamide lowers blood sugar at about 0.86 g/l, after 180 minutes. The others hyperglycaemic rabbits were given herbal medicine to drink, 0.6 ml per 20 grams of body weight. At 2.5 mg/ml, the phytomedicine does not induce hypoglycaemic effect. At 10 mg/ml, it makes the hyperglycaemia go down from 1.17 g/l to 0.91 g/l. At 40 mg/ml, it induces a significant decrease in blood glucose. A fall of 34 % was observed, 180 minutes later. The glibenclamide exerts a significant basal glucose-lowering effect. The herbal medicine exerts on basal glycaemia a deep action and can induce, at 40 mg/ml, a hypoglycaemic coma. The effect of herbal medicine (40 mg/ml) on hyperglycaemic rabbits is compared to glibenclamide (0.25 mg/ml). The herbal medicine has a hypoglycemic effect and appears like an antidiabetic and produces its hypoglycaemic effect mainly through alkaloids, sterols or triterpens.