Studies On The Effect Of Aqueous Extract Of Phyllanthus Niruri Leaf On Plasma Glucose Level And Some Hepatospecific Markers In Diabetic Wistar Rats

摘要

The effects of various concentrations of aqueous extract of Phyllanthus niruri on plasma glucose level and some hepatospecific markers were investigated in diabetic Wistar strain rats. The classes of chemical components of the aqueous extract of the plant were determined; alkaloids, flavonoids and saponins were found to be present. Acute toxicity test in rats gave an LD50 of 516.2 mg/kg. In this study we observed that the administrated of aqueous extract of P. niruri at the doses of 120 and 240 mg/kg body weight to diabetic rats not only caused a significant decrease in blood glucose but also has a significant effect in controlling the loss of body weight, which is caused during diabetes. There were no significant difference (P?0.05) in alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities as well as total, conjugated and unconjugated billrubin levels for the two experimental groups respectively when compared with the control group. The observations show that the aqueous crude extract of Phyllanthus niruri may have hypoglycaemic effect in diabetic rats and that no evidence of hepatotoxicity of the extract was established. Introduction Medicinal plants are being used in traditional system of medicine from hundreds of years in many countries of the world (Oubre et. al, 1970), and which is in line with World Health Organization prescription that medicinal plant researches warrant attention. Most of these medicinal plants with hypoglycaemic properties are being used immensely as alternative forms of treatment and management of diabetes since the use of oral hypoglycemic drugs is restricted by their treatment and management failure and accompanying side effects (Halim and Ali, 2002).Moreover, the increased dependency rate on this alternative form of treatment for diabetes became possible as a result of many researchers publishing works on a lot of plants with hypoglycemic properties. Phyllanthus niruri also known as “Chanca pledra” belongs to the family Euphorbiaceae. It is known as enyikwonwa in Ibo language of the South Eastern Nigerian. A lot of researchers (Upal et. al., 2005; Ramakrishnan et. al., 1982; and Sivaprakasam et. al., 1995) who worked on Phyllanthus niruri confirmed that it has hypoglycaemic properties. It has also been used for the treatment of other disease conditions in various parts of the world. It is an excellent remedy of jaundice (Kirtikar and Basu, 1935) and infective hepatitis (Ramanan and Sainani, 1962). It is effective in jaundice in children (Dixit and Achor, 1982). The plant is of medicinal importance for numerous ailments like dysentery, diuretics, kidney stones, influenza, antibacterial, anthyperglycaemic and antiviral (Chopra et. al., 1986).Thus, as many of these medicinal plants have been used for many centuries and sometimes as regular constituents of the diet, it is assumed that they do not have many side effects. This is always being taken the case with Phyllanthus niruri. However chronic consumption of large amounts of traditional remedies must always be taken with caution as toxicity studies have not been conducted for most of these plants (Shnkar et. al., 1980). A lot of researchers have shown that Phyllanthus niruri has protective action on the different body organs especially the liver and the kidney, and that no form of toxicity has been associated with the usage of this plant extract (Tabasum et. al., 2005; Barros, 2003; and Nishiura et.al 2005). Visveswaran and Santrani (1985) have also shown that 50% alchoholic extract of leaves of Phyllanthus niruri and Ricinus communis have hepatoprotective effect against carbon tetrachloride-induced liver cell damage in rabbits. However, there is a report of hepatotoxicity in rats (Adedapo et. al., 2005). Based on these varied reports, this research work is designed primarily to examine the actual effect of an aqueous extract of Phyllanthus niruri on some biochemical parameters such as blood glucose a