ABSTRACT
Artemisia herba alba is widely used in Iraqi folk medicine for the treatment of diabetes mellitus. However, very few scientific and medical studies were carried out to assess the efficacy and toxicity of A. herba alba. In this study feeding diabetic rats and rabbits with 0.39 g/kg body weight of the aqueous extract of the aerial parts of the plant for 2-4 weeks shows a significant reduction in blood glucose level, prevents elevation of glycosylated haemoglobin level and possesses a hypoliposis effect, in addition to the protection against body weight loss of diabetic animals.
Subject(s)
Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental/blood , Hypoglycemic Agents/pharmacology , Medicine, Traditional , Plants, Medicinal , Alloxan , Animals , Body Weight/drug effects , Glycated Hemoglobin/analysis , Iraq , Lipids/blood , Male , Plant Extracts/pharmacology , Rabbits , Rats , Rats, WistarABSTRACT
Artemisia herba alba is widely used in Iraqi folk medicine for the treatment of diabetes mellitus. Oral administration of 0.39 g/kg body weight of the aqueous extract of the leaves or barks produced a significant reduction in blood glucose level, while the aqueous extract of roots and the methanolic extract of the aerial parts of the plant produce almost no reduction in blood glucose level. The extract of the aerial parts of the plant seem to have minimal adverse effect and high LD50 value.
