Traditional medicinal plants used for the treatment of diabetes in the Sudan : A review

The prevalence of metabolic disorders such as diabetes among population is of increasing concern worldwide. Sudan is a developing country, where several areas frequently depend on folk medicine. Several herbal preparations have been used in folklore practice in Sudan for the management of diabetes with claims asserting their hypoglycemic effect. Basic research relating to these plants are reviewed in this paper with the intention to highlight their therapeutic potential for the treatment of diabetes and promote their regular use in Sudan. Ethnobotanical information was obtained by an assessment of the available literature in electronic data bases with publications describing the medicinal plants used for the treatment of diabetes. In this review paper, different parts of 38 plant species, are described that are used in the Sudanese traditional medicine and belong to 35 genera and 23 families. Thirty three plants have been documented in scientific literature to possess in vivo antidiabetic activity and only one was ineffective in lowering blood glucose level, namely Striga hermonthica. Many of the plants in the study review have been studied in in vitro models (such as α-amylase or α-glucosidase inhibition) in an effort to explain some of their biomedical interaction. The role of isolated bioactive compounds like trigonelline and 3, 5-dicaffeoylquinic acid in diabetes management is also evaluated in the present review. Ten plants original from Sudan have been already used in clinical trials for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. This review provides useful information on the characterization of such herbal medicines that are utilized in the Sudanese traditional medicine for the control of metabolic syndromes such as diabetes

Toxicity of Aqueous Extract of Senna alexandrina Miller Pods on Newzealand Rabbits.

Aims: The herbal extract of Senna alexandrina pods is used commonly to treat constipation. The study was designed to evaluate the effect of oral administration of aqueous extract of S. alexandrina pods at varying doses on Newzealand rabbits for 2 and 4 weeks. Study Design: Biochemical and cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Botany Department, Faculty of Science and Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Science, University of Khartoum. Methodology: Rabbits of either sex were divided into four groups of 8 animals each. Group I served as control and groups II, III and IV were orally treated with doses of 50, 100 and 300 mg/kg body weight for up to 4 weeks. Toxicity was evaluated using biochemical, hematological and histopathological assays. Results: No significant pathological changes were observed in rabbits given a dose of 50 mg/kg/day. However, at higher doses alterations in the levels of blood haematological parameters, transaminases, creatinine, albumin and globulin were observed; such changes are likely to occur due to spleen, hepatic and renal injury, which was confirmed by histopathological analysis. Conclusion: The data suggest that administration of the aqueous extract of S. alexandrina pods at 50 mg/kg/day is not toxic. The observed toxic effect might be due to higher doses and/or frequency of administration. Although in traditional medicine the extract is administrated at a low dose, the results suggest the necessity of standardization of the drug.