Abstract

The incidence of diabetes mellitus (DM) is increasing globally and it is a major source of concern. This study was undertaken to assess the antidiabetic effect of the ethanolic leaf extract of Dryopteris dilatata (ELEDD).Thirty adult Wistar rats with body weight (BW) of 120-150 g were randomly assigned to groups of five rats each (n=5). Groups 1 served as normal control; Groups 2-6 were diabetic groups; group 2 served as negative control; group 3 received 50 mg/kg of metformin; 4-6 received 200, 400 and 800 mg/kg of ELEDD respectively. The BW and fasting blood glucose level (FBSL) of the rats were monitored weekly. At the end of the experiment, all the rats were anaesthetized with 25% urethane (sigma- Aldrich) intraperitoneally (I.P) and blood samples were collected by cardiac puncture for biochemical analysis. There was an increase in the BW of the metformin treated group and varying doses of ELEDD. It caused 77.00±15.07% decrease in FBSL; 86.94±34.80% and 248.07±20.56% with respect to 400 and 800 mg/kg of ELEDD. There was a significant (p<0.05) increase in the serum total cholesterol (STC), triglycerides (TG) and low density lipoprotein (LDL-C) as well as decrease in high density lipoproteins (HDL-C). Lipid profile groups treated with ELEDD significantly (p<0.05) decreased in a dose dependent manner .This study has shown that DD has hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effects.

Key words:  Diabetes, Dryopteris dilatai, hypoglycaemic, hypolipidaemic and phytochemical