In vitro and In vivo Antidiabetic Evaluation of Whole Plant Extracts of Argyreia imbricata (Roth) Sant. and Patel

Background: Plants of the genus Argyreia have been used in traditional and folk medicines and a variety of pharmacological activities have also been reported. Objective: The present study was aimed to evaluate the antidiabetic activity in vitro and in vivo of the different extracts of the whole plant Argyreia imbricata. Materials and Methods: The powdered material of the whole plant Argyreia imbricata was extracted with solvents such as petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol by soxhelation. In vitro antidiabetic activity of all the extracts was evaluated by α–amylase and α–glucosidase inhibition assay. Based on the results of in vitro evaluation, the extracts selected were subjected to in vivo evaluation on the Wistar albino rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus. Initially, acute toxicity of the extracts was evaluated and the effective dose (ED₅₀) was fixed. Standard drug Glibenclamide was used for the comparative evaluation. Two doses of test extracts, low dose and high dose were administered to the test animals and their antidiabetic activity was evaluated by means of monitoring the changes in the blood glucose level, hematological and biochemical parameters and histopathology of liver and pancreas of test animals. Results: Based on the results of in vitro evaluation, the ethyl acetate and methanol extracts were selected for the in vivo evaluation. ED50 of the test extracts were fixed as 200mg.kg^-1. Two doses, 200mg.kg^-1 and 400mg.kg^-1 of the test extracts were subjected to evaluation. Both the tested extracts possessed the activity, but the methanol, extracts showed significant activity in all aspects. Conclusion: Results of the present study strongly support the antidiabetic activity of tested extracts. Further studies on toxicity, identification isolation of the potential compounds may give useful results for the development of clinically useful chemotherapeutic agents in the future.