ABSTRACT
This study was stimulated by popular belief that Trigonella foenum graecum has antidiabetic activity in which the hypoglycemic effect has been confirmed by several investigators. However, the mode of action appears to be unclear. To gain some insight, the stems and leaves of the plant as well as the known active seeds were extracted at room temperature (ca 20 C) for three days with water or acetone and by soxhlet 70 C, and tested by oral administration to rats. Acetone and CC14 extracts before use, were evaporated below 30 C under vacuo, and the residue dissolved in distilled water containing Tween 80. Hypoglycemic activity of these extracts were tested on 20 hour fasted normal, alloxan and cadmium treated rats. The latter has been shown to cause hyperglycemia by releasing epinephrine in intact rats and inhibiting insulin release in the isolated perfused rat pancreas. Results showed that with seeds the CC14, soxhlet acetone extracts were inactive in normal animals as were the water and acetone extracts of stems and leaves. These observations may be compared with room temperature acetone extraction of seeds which exhibited what appeared to be dose related hypoglycemic effects. The hyperglycemia induced by cadmium or alloxan was antagonized by room temperature acetone seed or stem and leaves extracts. Tentative interpretation of the above results, are that Trigonella acetone extract appears to act, at least in part, at the cellular level to produce its hypoglycemic effects on normal rats or those as treated with cadmium or alloxan.
