Treatment of high fat diet induced type 2 diabetes in C57BL/6J mice by two medicinal plants used in traditional treatment of diabetes in the east of Algeria

J Ethnopharmacol. 2011 Jan 27;133(2):931-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2010.11.019. Epub 2010 Nov 19.

Abstract

Aim of the study: Hydro-alcoholic extracts of Centaurium erythraea Rafn (CE), Gentianaceae and Artemisia herba-alba Asso (AHA), Asteraceae, medicinal plants used in traditional treatment of diabetes in north-eastern Algeria, were tested in established type 2 diabetes induced with a standardized high fat diet (HFD) in mice.

Materials and methods: After confirmation of diabetes (17th week), plant extracts were administered orally by gavage at a dose of 2 g/kg daily for 18 weeks to male C57BL/6J mice fed HFD. Animals were weighed, food intake and plasma glucose measured weekly, insulin and lipid profile at study end.

Results: At 35 weeks, groups treated with AHA or CE vs. HFD control had a significant reduction in mean (±SD) fasting blood glucose concentrations (143.8±23.9 and 139.5±14.2 vs. 229.0±20.8 mg/dL, p<0.05, respectively), triglyceride (18.9±11.1 and 16.0±6.5 vs. 62.8±18.3 mg/dL, p<0.05), total cholesterol (1.2±0.1 and 1.2±0.3 vs. 1.8±1.1 g/L, p<0.05) and serum insulin concentrations (1.7±0.7 and 0.9±0.7 vs. 3.3±14.3 ng/mL, p<0.05). Plant extracts also markedly reduced insulin resistance as compared to HFD controls (AHA: 15.6±9.1, CE: 9.0±7.7 vs. HFD control 38.5±30.3, p<0.05). The plant extracts decreased calorie intake and had little effect on body weight or HDL-cholesterol.

Conclusion: AHA has already been shown to have a antihyperglycaemic and antihyperlipidemic effect but this is the first demonstration of an effect of AHA and CE on established HFD-induced diabetes.

MeSH terms

  • Algeria
  • Animals
  • Artemisia*
  • Blood Glucose / metabolism
  • Centaurium*
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / blood
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / drug therapy*
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / etiology
  • Dietary Fats / administration & dosage
  • Ethnopharmacology
  • Hypoglycemic Agents / isolation & purification
  • Hypoglycemic Agents / pharmacology*
  • Insulin / blood
  • Lipids / blood
  • Male
  • Medicine, African Traditional
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Phytotherapy*
  • Plant Extracts / pharmacology
  • Plants, Medicinal

Substances

  • Blood Glucose
  • Dietary Fats
  • Hypoglycemic Agents
  • Insulin
  • Lipids
  • Plant Extracts