Antidiabetic and Thrombolytic Activities of Some Selected Medicinal Plants in High Fat Diet and Dexamethasone-Induced Type 2 Diabetic Rats

Background: Type-2 diabetes (T2D) is a hypercoagulable and hypofibrinolytic condition that predisposes to cardiovascular and  thrombotic complications. We screened three medicinal plants (Albizzia chevalieri, Newbouldia laevis and Leptadenia hastate) for their antidiabetic and thrombolytic activities. Methods: T2D was induced with high fat diet and dexamethasone. Following induction, rats were grouped into 6 (n=8 rats); control,  untreated, treated (500mg/kg body weight (BW) metformin only) or treated (300mg/kg BW leaf extracts). The rats were treated for two  weeks and euthanized. About 2ml of the collected blood was used for thrombolytic activity assay while the rest was processed, and the  recovered serum utilised for biochemical and hormonal assays. Results: Rats treated with extracts had significantly (p<0.05) lowered concentrations of serum glucose, TG, LDL-cholesterol, VLDL- cholesterol and increased HDL-cholesterol compared to untreated rats. Extracts also lowered (p<0.05) the serum insulin concentration on  day 14 compared to untreated rats. Albizzia chevalieri, Newbouldia laevis and Leptadenia hastata showed 48.90%, 39.20% and 37.69%  clot lysis activities respectively which was significantly higher (p<0.001) than distilled water, while streptokinase produced a substantial  clot lysis of 93.70%. Conclusions: The leaf extracts of Albizzia chevalieri, Newbouldia laevis and Leptadenia hastata have antidiabetic and  thrombolytic activities in type-2 diabetic rats and thus, can be potentially used as combined antidiabetic and thrombolytic agents with in  vivo effects in type-2 diabetic patients.