The antidiabetic and protective effects of the methanolic leaf extract of A. borneensis in alloxan-induced diabetic rats

Abstract

Aidia borneensis or locally known as "sambah bagangan" is consumed as herbal tea in Brunei Darussalam and has been claimed to provide several health benefits.Our study was conducted to determine antidiabetic and protective effects of the methanolic extracts of A. borneensis followed by a histopathological evaluation of the pancreatic islets regeneration in response to the treatments.The study was conducted on male Wistar rats, aged 8-10 weeks where diabetes was induced via a single intraperitoneal injection of alloxan at 120 mg/kg body weight (b.w.).The rats were then treated with a low dose (LD) of 250 mg/kg b.w. or a high dose (HD) of 500 mg/kg b.w. of the A. borneensis extract pre-or post-alloxan administration followed by evaluation of blood glucose levels and histological evaluation of the pancreatic islets over a 12-week experimental period.The intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test for the treated animals was also carried out.Our results report a significant reduction in the blood glucose concentration and increase in ratio of islets to tissue size observed in diabetic rats from both low dose and high dose treated groups compared to the control animals (p<0.05).Improvement of islet morphology was evident in the treated animals.Similar patterns of increased islet to tissue size ratios were also observed in the protective group which received pre-treatment of the extracts prior to diabetes induction.Overall, the present study shows that methanolic extract of the A. borneensis leaf exhibited apparent antidiabetic and protective effects on alloxan-induced diabetic rats.