Abstract
The present study was carried out to access the acute effects of methanolic extracts of various parts of Nicotiana plumbajnifolia in diabetic mice. Basic phytochemical evaluation showed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids and tannins as the min compounds in the methanolic extract. Diabetes was induced experimentally in 12 hours fasted mice by intraperitoneally (i.p.) injecting alloxan (150 mg/kg). The methanolic extracts of Nicotiana plumbajnifolia stem, root, leaves and fruit were evaluated for antidiabetic potential in alloxan treated diabetic mice. The mice were categorized into six groups (n=5). The methanolic extracts of stems, leaves, root and fruit (250 mg/kg) were administered intraperitoneally once and changes in blood glucose levels were recorded at 6 and 24 hours. Metformin (2 g/kg) was administration intraperitoneally and used as positive control. Methanolic extracts of N. plumbajnifolia leaves showed maximum reduction in blood glucose level (95.33 +/- 13.6***) when compared with control diabetic group (280.2 +/- 7.92). There was 26.6% decrease in blood glucose levels after 6 hours with metformin (2 g/kg) whereas leaves showed 46.3 % reduction. The stems, root and fruit showed 38.9, 39.3 and 42.9 % reduction in blood glucose six hours after dose administration. The leaves have maximum blood glucose reducing capacity.