Evaluation of antidiabetic activity of Calamus erectus in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats

The present study was designed to evaluate the hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic and antioxidant activity of Calamus erectus (CE) fruit in streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic wistar rat. The fruit extracts of 100, 200, 300 and 400 mg/kg body weight (bw) were administrated orally to normal and STZ induced (55 mg/kg bw) diabetic (>200 mg/dl) rats. Glibenclamide (10 mg/kg) were used as a reference drug. Antioxidant effects were assayed in diabetic rats by estimating thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) levels. Daily oral treatment with 400 mg/kg fruit extract for 14 days resulted in 73.68, 20.46, 36.6 and 43.9% reduction of blood glucose, serum cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL (low-density lipoprotein) respectively whereas HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol was found to be improved 12.7% when compared with STZ treated rats. GSH, SOD and CAT activity of liver homogenate was improved 33.46, 49.36 and 52.48% respectively while the TBARS decreased 36.18% with same treatment. Decreased levels of TBARS and increase of GSH, SOD and CAT activity indicated a reduction in free radical formation in liver of diabetic rats. The present study demonstrated that CE fruit extract possess good antidiabetic potential and could improve lipid profile and oxidative stress efficiently during diabetic condition.

Author(s): Mitali Ghosal and Palash Mandal*

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