Abstract
The incidence of diabetes mellitus is increasing worldwide in adults and is one of the leading cause of death. It is predicted that by 2030, the number of people with diabetes will increased in India, China and the United States. The recently used effective drugs for diabetes mellitus are insulin injection and hypoglycemic agents, but these drugs are having undesirable adverse effects. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the anti-diabetic activity of Albizia amara Boivin leaf extracts on streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. The Diabetes was induced in male albino wistar rats by single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ) (50 mg/kg b.w.). The diabetic rats were administered orally with Albizia amara Boivin leaf methanolic extract at the dose of 250, 500mg/kg b.w. and glibenclamide (600μg/kg b.w.) as standard by oral route for 45 days.
Methanolic extracts of Albizia amara Boivin leaf and glibenclamide treated diabetic rats showed significant reduction in blood glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin levels; in addition, plasma insulin and hemoglobin levels were elevated. Results of methanolic extract of Albizia amara were comparable to the standard drug glibenclamide. The present findings support the usage of the plant extracts for the treatment of diabetes and exhibited anti-diabetic activity when compared with standard hypoglycemic agent.
KEY WORDS: Diabetes, Albizia amara, glibenclamide, streptozotocin