Effect of smallanthus sonchifolius (Yacon) crude ethanolic leaf extract in Alloxan-Induced diabetes in Sprague-Dawley albino rats

This paper was intended to discover the potentials of crude ethanolic leaf extract of smallanthus sonchifolius against the alloxan-induced diabetes in albino rats. Fifty (50) albino rats were divided into four groups: t1 and T2 were treated with 200 and 400 mg/kg smallanthus sonchifolius extracts, respectively; C+, received 50 mg/kg of Metformin; and C-, received 1 ml of NSS. After the treatment period, T1 showed its ability to decrease fasting blood glucose (FBG) after 10 and 20 days. T2 had a significant decrease in the FBG only after 10 days treatment but not 20 days. T1 is also comparable with Metformin in decreasing FBG after 10 days but T1 was able to decrease FBG after 20 days unlike Metformin. Generally, T1 produced better plasma glucose lowering effects compared to T2 in terms of reducing the FBG after 10 and 20 days. The study indicated that the ethanolic crude extracts of Smallanthus sonchifolius (Yacon) have glucose lowering effects which can be of significance in patients with diabetes mellitus. Further studies regarding the plasma glucose lowering effects of Smallanthus sonchifolius leaf extract should be carried out to prove its therapeutic potential