| dc.description.abstract | ABSTRACT
Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disease characterized by chronic hyperglycemia. It causes significant physiological aberrations that eventually lead to chronic complications that are responsible for most of the mortalities and morbidities typical of the disease. Study objectives: The general objective was to evaluate the combined anti-diabetic effect of a methanolic extract of Solanum indicum fruit and metformin in alloxan – induced diabetic albino rat. The specific objective was to determine the anti-diabetic effect of the combination of a methanolic extract of Solanum indicum fruits and metformin. Methods: The study was a controlled experimental study. Diabetes was induced using 150mg/Kg via intra-peritoneal route. FBG levels were determined using a Code free glucometer and chronic diabetes was confirmed for all animals whose FBG is greater than
8.33mmol/L. Chronic diabetic animals were fasted overnight and all groups were treated as
follows group I (distilled water 0.2mL) groups II (Metformin 50 mg/Kg), III (SIE 100mg/Kg),
IV (Metformin: SIE 1:1), V (Metformin: SIE 1:2) and VI (Metformin: SIE 2:1). FBG levels were determined at regular intervals of 3 days.
Study findings: The percentage yield of the extract was 2.43% w/w. There was no significant
difference in the reduction of FBG levels amongst groups II, III, IV, V and VI (P> 0.05). Group
III (SIE 100mg/Kg) showed the highest percentage (83%) reduction over the study 12-day study
period. Conclusions: Solanum indicum fruit extracts (SIE) exhibits a comparable hypoglycemic effect to metformin. However, the combination of Metformin and SIE is not superior to either preparation administered singly. Recommendations: Future studies need to embark on the isolation and characterization of the saponins that are responsible for the hypoglycemic effects. Also there is a need to elucidate the actual mechanism of action by which the saponins exhibit the hypoglycemiceff | en_US |
