Anti-Diabetic Effect of Methanolic Extract of Aristolochia ringensLeaf

The aim and objective of this study is to investigate the hypoglycemic, hepatoprotective, hypolipidemic and antioxidant potentials of the methanolic extract of Aristolochia ringens leaf (MLAR) in STZ-induced diabetic wistar rats. The airdried and powdered leaf of the plant (Aristolochia ringens) was extracted by cold maceration and concentrated. In vitro analysis was carried out by screening the extract for phytochemical constituents and antioxidant activities using different models. In vivo analysis was also carried out by randomly dividing forty eight (48) male wistar rats (140-170 g) into eight groups of six (6) rats each. Group 1 served as control; group 2 received STZ (60 mg/kg wt i.p); groups 3 to 8 served as the treatment group. The animals were sacrificed without anesthesia after 30 days and their blood were collected for biochemical investigation. The in vitro results showed that MLAR possesses good antioxidant potential when compared with the standard and it is also known to contain a number of phytochemicals. Also, the administration of STZ caused significant (p<0.05) elevation of the serum level of glucose, ALT AST, GGT, ALP, total cholesterol, LDL, TRIGS, MDA, NO and MPO activity by 100%, 47%, 38%, 32%, 51%, 29%, 34%, 41%, 51%, 29%, 54% and 59% respectively and significant reduction in HDL, Catalase, GPx, GSH, SOD, GST and plasma insulin by 34%, 34%, 61%, 46%, 66%, 55% and 52% respectively, but supplementation with MLAR brought all these parameters close to normal. In conclusion, Aristolochia ringens may be used as a prophylactic and an alternative medicine in the treatment of diabetes mellitus as it was established in this study that it possesses antioxidant, antiinflammatory, hypolipidemic and hypoglycemic effects which may be due to the presence of phytochemicals in it.