US EPA

8312623 

Journal Article 

Anti-diabetes and hypoglycaemic properties of Hemigraphis colorata in rats 

Gayathri, V; Lekshmi, P; Padmanabhan, RN 

2012 

1 

International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
ISSN: 2656-0097
EISSN: 0975-1491 

4 

2 

324-328 

English 

Hemigraphis colorata Blume [Family:Acanthaceae]. This ethno-medicinal plant was evaluated for its hypoglycaemic and anti-diabetic properties using rats. Glucose lowering effect and anti-diabetes activity were studied using glucose tolerance test in normal rats and alloxan diabetic rats, respectively. When different extract were tested, the n-hexane and, to some extent, the ethanol extracts were found to lower the levels of blood glucose in glucose fed rats. The n-hexane extract showed optimum activity at 100 mg/kg. The extract exhibited only marginal hypoglycaemic activity in overnight fasted normal rats and it was devoid of any conspicuous toxic symptoms in sub-acute toxicity evaluation in mice. When the nhexane extract was fractionated by sequential solvent extraction, the activity was found in ethyl acetate fraction (12.5mg/kg). This fraction containing steroids and coumarins showed anti-diabetes activity in alloxan diabetic rats as judged from serum glucose levels, liver glycogen content and body weight. This fraction is an attractive material for further research vis-à-vis drug development. 

Alloxan; Alloxan diabetic rats; Anti-hyperglycaemic activity; Glucose; Hemigraphis colorata; n-hexane