Antihyperglycemic and antihyperlipidemic potential of colocasia esculenta corms - in vivo

Abstract

Aims: Colocasia esculenta Linn has been used regularly in folk medicines to treat various diseases including diabetes mellitus but the antidiabetic effect of its corms has not been validated scientifically so far. The present study is an attempt to evaluate antidiabetic and antihyperlipidemic potential of aqueous extract of C. esculenta corms in vivo. Methods: Various doses of C. esculenta corms were given orally to normal and streptozotocin induced mild diabetic rats to identify the most effective dose for lowering the elevated blood glucose level (BGL). The most effective dose of 200 mg kg-1 was given to severely diabetic rats for 28 days to assess the antihyperglycemic and antihyperlipidemic potential of the extract. Results: The results reveal the maximum decrease of 34% in the BGL of normal rats at 6 h during Fasting Blood Glucose (FBG) studies and 43.1% at 3 h during Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT). Whereas, in case of mild diabetic rats, the maximum reduction observed in BGL during GTT was only 9.6%. In case of severely diabetic rats a noteworthy reduction of 41.6, 31.1, 34.8 and 46.2% was observed in FBG, Post Prandial Glucose, serum Total Cholesterol and Triglycerides levels respectively. A significant increase of 26% in High Density Lipoprotein level of severely diabetic rats was also observed. Conclusions: Hence, C. esculenta corms could be exposed as antidiabetic agent being significantly effective not only as hypoglycemic and antihyperglycemic agent but also as antihyperlipidemic. Thus, it could be developed as a new source for diabetes treatment.