Hypoglycemic Effect of Diabegon: A Polyherbal Preparation in Normal and Type 2 Diabetic Rats and Human Subjects

Background: The diabegon is used as a folk medicine for treatment of diabetes in India, which contains 19 plant extracts. In the present study, the hypoglycemic effect of diabegon was evaluated on normal and high fructose induced diabetes in rats as well as in diabetic patients. Methods: The study was divided into two experiments; viz. experiment 1, was conducted for evaluation of hypoglycaemic effect and deciding the appropriate dose of drug with reference to body weight in animals. The blood glucose lowering activity of diabegon were studied in normal and high fructose induced diabetes in rats, after oral administration of at doses of 100, 150 and 200 mg/kg body weight and compared the effect with standard antidiabetic drugs viz. Glibenclamide and Rosiglitazone. The blood samples were collected from the tail vein before and at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 24 hours after drug administration and blood glucose was analysed by glucometer and insulin was estimated with ELISA kit. Experiment 2, was performed with 16 normal and 20 type 2 male diabetic patients with 100 mg/kg body weight of drug dose and also compared the effect with glibenclamide and rosiglitazone. The blood samples were collected before and at 2, 4, 6 and 8 hours after drug administration. The diabetes was checked by oral glucose tolerance test in both animals and human subjects. Results: The diabegon exhibited dose dependent reduction of blood glucose and increased insulin production, in both normal and diabetic animals and human subjects as compared with that of standard drugs glibenclamide and rosiglitazone. On the basis of results of present study, it may be concluded that diabegon exhibited an ace hypoglycaemic activity at the dose of 100 mg/kg body weight also, and this activity may act by stimulating pancreatic beta-cells for insulin production and/or increasing insulin sensitivity by extra-pancreatic action. Conclusions: On the basis of result from present study it is concluded that, diabegon is a potent antidiabetic herbal preparation which can use as folk antidiabetic preparation. The detailed elaborated effect and mode of action needs further study.