ABSTRACT
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The plant Diospyros melanoxylon (Roxb) belongs to the family Ebenaceae that is native to India and Sri-lanka. This is a medium-sized tree, reaching a height of 15 m and is well known for its beedi making leaves throughout the world. The purpose of the present study is to assess the effect of Diospyros melanoxylon leaves petroleum ether extract on blood glucose level, lipid level, insulin level, body weight, water and food intake in Streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two different doses of extract AK001 (250 mg/kg) and AK002 (500 mg/kg) of Diospyros melanoxylon leaves were taken to evaluate different activities. The animals were divided into five groups namely normal control, diabetic control, reference group, AK001 and AK002 each containing six animals for in-vivo study. In-vitro study for antiadipogen activity was performed on 3T3-L1 cell line. RESULTS: The extract showed dose dependent fall in Fasting Glucose Level (FSG) in experimental diabetic animals with significant reduction in food and water intake and increase in body weight. The extract exhibited hypocholesterolemic and hypotriglyceridemic effects while increased level of HDL in diabetes induced rats. In-vitro activity showed more than 75% viability of cells and significant inhibition in differentiated cells as compared to non-differentiate cells in 3T3-L1 cell line. The extract exhibited the concentration-dependent inhibitory effect with an IC50 value of 689.22 µg/ml. CONCLUSIONS: The extract exhibited significant results for antiadipogenic, antidiabetic and hypolipidemic activity both in-vivo and in-vitro and it may prove to be effective for the treatment of both types of diabetes, i.e. Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (IDDM) and Noninsulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM).
