Embelin-loaded oral niosomes ameliorate streptozotocin-induced diabetes in Wistar rats.

Embelin is a natural compound possessing a plethora of pharmacological activities, including antidiabetic activity. When formulated as niosomes, embelin offers additional advantages of nanoformulations and can be further exploited for clinical use. An oral niosome formulation of embelin was developed using a thin-film hydration technique, and its antidiabetic activity was studied. The formulation was characterized in terms of entrapment efficiency, vesicle size and morphology, in vitro release profile, and stability. Antidiabetic evaluation was performed in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic Wistar rats. An antioxidant assay was carried out by evaluating superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and glutathione (GSH). The optimized formulation showed a significant hypoglycemic effect, which was comparable with that of repaglinide. Moreover, significant increases in SOD, CAT, and GSH, along with a decrease in the lipid peroxidation level, were observed, which confirmed the antioxidant efficacy of the formulation. Thus, it is evident that the embelin-loaded niosome formulation was efficacious in diabetes management in Wistar rats.

Development of response surface methodology for optimization of extraction parameters and quantitative estimation of embelin from Embelia ribes Burm by high performance liquid chromatography.

BACKGROUND: Embelia ribes Burm is widely used medicinal plant for the treatment of different types of disorders in the Indian traditional systems of medicine. OBJECTIVE: The present work was aimed to optimize the extraction parameters of embelin from E. ribes fruits and also to quantify embelin content in different extracts of the plant. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Optimization of extraction parameters such as solvent: drug ratio, temperature and time were carried out by response surface methodology (RSM). Quantitative estimation of embelin in different extracts of E. ribes fruits was done through high performance liquid chromatography. RESULTS: The optimal conditions determined for extraction of embelin through RSM were; extraction time (27.50 min), extraction temperature 45°C and solvent: drug ratio (8:1). Under the optimized conditions, the embelin yield (32.71%) was equitable to the expected yield (31.07%, P > 0.05). These results showed that the developed model is satisfactory and suitable for the extraction process of embelin. The analysis of variance showed a high goodness of model fit and the accomplishment of the RSM method for improving embelin extraction from the fruits of E. ribes. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that this may be a useful method for the extraction and quantitative estimation of embelin from the fruits of E. ribes.