Investigation of Hypoglycemic Effects of Moleta (Sonchus oleraceus L.) in Normal Albino Rats
Awad Mohamed Abdel Rahim , Ezdihar Elhadi Elamin Ahmed, Imad Eldin Mohamed Tag Eldin, Mai Abdalla Ali
كلية الهندسة والتكنولوجيا-جامعة الجزيرة · السودان
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by high blood glucose levels.Sonchus oleraceus is a herbal medicine that has been traditionally used for the treatment ofdiabetes. The aim of this study was to investigate the hypoglycemic effects of ethanolic andhexane extracts of Sonchus oleraceus in normal albino rats using fasting blood glucose andglucose tolerance tests. During the period of October ,2015 – March ,2016 at the Faculty ofPharmacy- University of Gezira. 200 g of Sonchus oleraceus leaves powder were macerated intwo Liters of hexane for two days with thorough homogenization twice per day. The maceratewas filtered, evaporated and collected. Nine grams of the obtained residue were dissolved in 90ml of corn oil, which was used for biological testing. The rest residue was furtherly subjected toextraction using two Liters of ethanol (80%) for two days. The filtrate was evaporated to dryness,then dissolved in distilled water and used for biological testing. Sixty albino rats, weighting (130–190 g), were used. The rats were divided into six groups each of ten. Negative control groupreceived water (5ml) and the positive control group administered by glibenclamide (5 mg/kg)which is known to increase insulin release from pancreatic β- cell. Four test groups received twodoses (150 and 300mg/kg) of hexane extract and hydroethanlic extract of Sonchus oleraceusleaves. Hydroethanolic extract (150, 300 mg/kg) produced insignificant reduction in bloodglucose level (P-value = 0.2492, 0.1345), while hexane extract showed significant reduction ( Pvalue= 0.001) in fasting blood glucose, moreover, hexane extract showed a significant reductionin blood glucose level when using the glucose tolerance test (P-value = 0.3173, 0.0305). It wasevident that Sonchus oleraceus leaves revealed significant antihyperglycemic effects thus, itcould be used as a dietary supplement for type two diabetic patients. Further studies are requiredto evaluate the hypoglycemic effects of Sonchus oleraceus using diabetic rats and clinical trialsin human.