The Anti-Diabetic Effect of Some Plant Extracts Against Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes Type 2 in Male Albino Rats

Background: One of the widely spread disorders is Diabetes mellitus, especially type 2 (T2DM). T2DM is attributed to the change in life style and stress. A possible strategy to block dietary carbohydrate absorption is regulation of postprandial blood glucose level as well, the use of some natural plant extracts with inhibitory effect against carbohydrate digestive enzymes such as alpha-amylase and fewer side effects than synthetic drugs. This study was conducted to investigate the anti-diabetic effect of Cinnamon and Saussurea extract, individually, on blood glucose, lipid profile, insulin, interleukin1-beta and weight loss in diabetic rats treated with Streptozotocin (STZ). Methods: The experiment was performed on 60 Wistar male rats; the experimental study include 6 groups (10 rats each): (I) normal rats, (II) Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats, (III) normal rats orally received (200 mg/kg/day) Saussurea ethanolic extract (SEE) for consecutive 4 weeks, (IV) normal rats orally received (100mg/kg/day) Cinnamon aqueous extract (CAE) for consecutive 4 weeks, (V) Streptozotocin-treated rats received SEE orally (200mg /kg/day) for consecutive 4 weeks, and (VI) Streptozotocin-treated rats received CAE orally (100mg /kg/day) for consecutive 4 weeks. Results: The results of the following study revealed that SEE has more anti-diabetic effect against Streptozotocin treatment than CAE due to the high alpha-amylase inhibition potential and higher phenolic content. Also, GC-MS analysis of SEE exhibited higher concentrations of phenolic compounds such as: dehydrocostus lactone, azuleno, eicosa-pentaenoic acid and linoelaidic acid that revealed anti-diabetic, anti-lipidemic and anti-inflammatory activities, while CAE showed the presence of cinnamic and quinic acids. Injection of STZ resulted in a decline in the insulin, high density lipoprotein and body weight values matched with the increase in glucose, total cholesterol, LDL-Cholesterol, triglycerides and interleukin1-beta (IL-1 beta). The administration of extracts of SEE and CAE into STZ-treated rats separately resulted in a decline in the elevated levels of blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides and improving serum HDL-Cholesterol and body weight. Conclusion: Both tested herbal extracts performed anti-diabetic effect that mainly could be mechanized via the alpha-amylase-inhibitory potentials due to the high phenolic and flavonoids content.