Résumé
Despite significant achievements in treatment modalities and preventive measures, the prevalence of diabetes has risen exponentially in the last decade. Because of these limitations there is a continued need for new and more effective therapies. An increasing number of people are using dietary and herbal supplements, even though there is a general lack of evidence for their safety and efficacy. Consequently, science-based medical and governmental reg-ulations are needed for more randomized clinical studies to provide evidence of efficacy and safety. The aim of this study was therefore to subject one such promising Vernonia amygdalina [VA], to agents to further investigate the potential function of VA for treatment of diabetes mellitus as potentially emerging alternative therapy for type 2 diabetes. Sixty adult male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 180-220g were used for the experiment. Half of the animals were randomly rendered diabetic by administering alloxan [150 mg/kg]. Equal numbers [20] of the rats were variously administered aqueous leaf extract of VA [500 mg/kg], chlorpropamide [250 mg/kg] and distilled water [2 ml/kg]. Aqueous leaf extract of VA produced significant [p < 0.05-0.001], reductions in the blood glucose concentrations of normal [normoglycemic] and diabetic [hyperglycemic] rats 1 to 12 hours after acute treatment compared with dis-tilled water-treated control animals. Its blood-glucose-lowering potential in both normoglycemic and alloxan-induced diabetic male Sprague-Dawley rats compared favourably to that of chlorpropamide. Administration of the aqueous extract of VA at a concentration of 500 mg/kg of body weight significantly decreased the levels of blood glucose. The hypoglycemic efficacy was comparable with that of chlorpropamide, a standard hypo-glycemic drug