Antidiabetic activity of Croton matourensis in alloxan-induced diabetic rats

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder with high prevalence worldwide. The use of medicinal plants to treat diabetes is a common practice in developing countries. Indeed, previous reports demonstrated that plants belonging to Croton genus have hypoglycemic potential. Nevertheless, there are limited studies related to Croton matourensis Aubl. Thus, this work was established to determine the hypoglycemic effect of the aqueous leaf extract from Croton matourensis (CMAE) in an alloxan-induced diabetic murine model. CMAE was prepared from the fresh leaves of Croton matourensis collected in Venezuela. The toxic and lethal effects of CMAE were determined in male Balc mice. Diabetes was induced by a single administration of alloxan in Sprague-Dawley rats. Then, the CMAE hypoglycemic effect was evaluated in this diabetic murine model. Our results showed that the lethal dose 50 (LD50) was 3.23 g/Kg and toxic dose 50 (TD50) 96 mg/Kg. Interestingly, CMAE at the dose of 48 mg/Kg (1/2 TD50) produced a significant reduction in blood glucose levels in diabetics animals. Therefore, CMAE was able to reduce glucose levels in rats not treated with alloxan. Thus, the antidiabetic mechanism could be related to antioxidant effects and modulation of pathways associated with glucose metabolism and storage. Collectively, this work supports further pharmacological studies of the Croton genus as an alternative in diabetes mellitus treatment.

Croton matourensis, antidiabetic activity, cholesterol, medicinal plants