Improved performance of naringenin herbosomes over naringenin in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats: In vitro and in vivo evaluation

Objective: To prepare naringenin herbosome and evaluate its antidiabetic activity.Methods: Herbosomes were prepared by the solvent evaporation method.In vitro parameters like particle size, polydispersity index, zeta potential, and entrapment efficiency were estimated and in vitro diffusion study was performed.The in vivo studies were also performed in streptozotocin-induced diabetic male Sprague Dawley rats to evaluate blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, blood urea nitrogen, total protein, albumin level, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase levels.Results: The optimized herbosome batch showed a particle size of 564.4 nm, a polydispersity index of 0.412, and zeta potential of-39.3 mV.The percentage entrapment of this formulation was 84.04%, with complete drug release within 8 h.Treatment of diabetic rats with naringenin herbosomes for 28 d significantly reduced the elevated level of plasma glucose as compared to plain naringenin.In biochemical parameters, the treatment showed a significant decrease in total cholesterol, triglyceride, and blood urea nitrogen; while elevated levels of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase were returned to normal.Pure naringenin and herbosome formulation at high dose increased the total protein whereas albumin level significantly increased in naringenin herbosomes at the highest dose but not in the pure naringenin treatment group.Conclusions: Naringenin herbosomes could improve the metabolic profile of diabetic rats, indicating enhanced antidiabetic activity of herbosome formulation.