Antidiabetic activity of root tubers of Asparagus gonoclados Baker in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Asparagus gonoclados Baker is a traditional folk remedy used for diabetes, diuretic, galactogogue, gastric ulcer activities etc. AIM: The present investigation was intended to evaluate the beneficial effect of the A.gonoclados (Lilliaceae) root tubers against diabetes mellitus. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Different solvent extracts of root tubers of A. gonoclados were used to study the antihyperglycemic activity in streptozotocin (45 mg/kg.wt) induced diabetic rats. Oral glucose tolerance test was performed in diabetic and normal rats treated with A.gonoclados. Total phenolic content (TPC), total flavanoid content (TFC) and total steroidal saponins content (TSSC) were measured in different solvent extracts. Following bioassay guided fractionation method antihyperglycemic active fraction of A. gonoclados (AGAF) was isolated from the ethanol extract (AGEE) by silica gel column chromatography. We further tested relationship between insulin stimulation effect and the influence of active fraction on K+-ATP and Ca2+ channels opening in normal and diabetic rats. The characterization of AGAF was carried out by LC-ESI-MS/MS. RESULTS: Among the different solvent extracts, the ethanol extract (AGEE) at a dose of 500 mg/kg b.wt has produced maximum (67%) reduction in fasting blood glucose levels (FBG) in diabetic treated rats after 6 h of oral administration when compared to the standard drug glibenclamide (40%). AGEE also showed dose-dependent inhibitory effect on the activities of α-glucosidase (74.73%) and α-amylase (76.47%), which is comparable to the activity of standard drug acarbose (88.42%). AGEE was found to have the richest quantity of TPCs (138.4 ±â€¯0.39 µg/mg gallic acid equivalents), TFCs (64.8 ±â€¯0.54 µg/mg quercetin equivalents) and TSSCs (12.9 ±â€¯0.11µg/mg sarasapogenin equivalents). We identified 8 potential antihyperglycemic compounds in AGAF by LC-ESI-MS/MS analysis. CONCLUSION: From our current study we confirm that A. gonoclados root tubers have potent antihyperglycemic activity and it can be a unique drug/formulation for the management of diabetes mellitus.

Documentation of ethnomedicinal information and antimicrobial validation of Thespesia populnea used by Yanadi tribe of Ganugapenta village, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh, India.

AIM: This study aimed to document the traditional knowledge of medicinal plants and antimicrobial validation of Thespesia populnea used by Yanadi tribe of Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was mainly focused on documentation of medicinal plants used by Yanadi tribe to treat different diseases with a standard questionnaire. These plants were cross-checked in Dr. Dukes Database and available literature to know the significance of this tribe on medicinal knowledge. Among the documented plants, T. populnea was selected for antimicrobial activity with disc diffusion assay. RESULTS: Among the documented medicinal plants, herbs were the most utilized plants, followed by leaf part of the plants; paste form of medicinal preparation was the dominant one among the mode of preparations and oral administration was generally followed by this tribe. When checked these plants in Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Database most of the medicinal plants were matched at least one medicinal use and most of them were correlated with existing literature. In antimicrobial activity, the microbial pathogens Klebsiella pneumonia among bacteria and Rhizopus arrhizus among fungi were most susceptible to methanol extract of T. populnea. CONCLUSION: From this study, we conclude that the preparation and dosage of the medicines by Yanadi tribe of this area is unique and the correlation of medicinal data with Duke's Database and existing literature reveals high medicinal significance of claimed data of this tribe and potential inhibitory activity of T. populnea could be studied further to isolate effective antimicrobial agents.