Abstract
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disease that progresses to many microvascular complications. The phytoconstituents derived from herbs are thought to be important sources of anti-diabetic drug candidates. Mimosa pudica is one of such traditional herbal medicines having wide usage in treating diabetes mellitus. This study aims to validate the protective role of aqueous and alcoholic extracts of whole plant of Mimosa pudica in streptozotocin induced diabetic wistar albino rats.
The overnight fasted wistar rats were initially treated with nicotinamide followed by streptozotocin in order to induce type 2 diabetes. After 72 h, the fasting blood glucose analysis was done and animals were further allocated to 5 different groups - Control group (no STZ administration); STZ control (with STZ administration); Group III (M. pudica ethanol extract 400 mg/kg; ME group); Group IV (M. pudica aqueous extract 400 mg/kg; MA); Group V (metformin 200 mg/kg). The treatment drugs were administered once a day for three weeks. The fasting blood glucose on the initial (day 0) and final (21st) day of the experiment was determined. Parameters like plasma insulin and hepato-renal function parameters, lipid peroxidation and antioxidants were estimated using standard kits. The animals were then sacrificed and liver tissues were collected for tissue analysis.
Single-dose streptozotocin (STZ) significantly increased blood glucose level, HbA1c, liver enzymes and lipid peroxidation, whereas repeated administration of extracts of Mimosa pudica significantly indicated a strong protective effect in the treated animals. The cellular pool of reduced glutathione and subsequent reduction in the lipid peroxidation status and improved insulin production are also well-corroborated. The plant extracts have shown statistically significant reduction of oxidative stress thereby showing antioxidant property by restoring the enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant molecules to nearly normal levels.
Overall, the study concludes that the phytoconstituents of M. pudica significantly controls the hyperglycaemic stress and glutathione depletion thereby provide therapeutically efficacious drug molecules for treating diabetes mellitus and its complications.