Antihyperglycemic effects of Cajanus cajan L. (pigeon pea) ethanolic extract on the blood glucose levels of ICR mice (Mus musculus l.)

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease that is usually associated with abnormalities in the metabolism of different substrates leading to high blood glucose levels (BGL). Aims and Objectives: Aims and objectives are to evaluate the effects of ethanolic extracts of Cajanus cajan (CCEE) leaves on its antihyperglycemic effects on BGL of normoglycemic mice. Materials and Methods: 45, 5-week-old female, mice were divided into five groups and were administered with either double distilled water, glimepiride, or CCEE. Results: Baseline BGLs were measured before the induction of hyperglycemia by glucose loading. 30 min after, the BGLs were measured again and ranged between 167.667 and 185.778 mg/dL. Immediately after the hyperglycemic BGLs were measured, the corresponding treatments were administered. Subsequently, three blood collections were done spanning 3 h with 1 h interval. The treatment doses were observed to have a faster onset than the positive control supported by the fact that the treatment groups had significant differences (P \u3c 0.05) with their respective hyperglycemic BGLs on the 1st h, while the positive control group exhibited significant difference with its hyperglycemic BGL on the 2nd h. The hypoglycemic effect of the positive control peaked at the 3rd h with 67.33 mg/dL and surpassed the hypoglycemic effect of the medium- and high-dose groups with 83.778 and 98.556 mg/dL, respectively. The low-dose group did not have significant difference with the negative control group past the 1st h suggesting that this dosage has a weak hypoglycemic effect. Conclusion: These results indicate that the CCEE leaves were able to produce hypoglycemic effects at doses between 400 and 800 mg/kg bodyweight. © 2017, Mr Bhawani Singh. All rights reserved