Efficacy Appraisal of Some Antidiabetic Herbal Preparations Available in Bangladesh

Antidiabetic Herbal Preparations (ADHP) are being used for the management of diabetes mellitus (DM) but their efficacy in controlling hyperglycemia is not scientifically evaluated. This study was undertaken to evaluate the antihyperglycemic potency of some selected antidiabetic HPs (herbal preparations) manufactured locally and readily available in Bangladesh. Six ADHPs were collected from herbal medicine shops in Dhaka city produced by five different local herbal pharmaceuticals companies. Acute and chronic responses of the selected ADHPs on glycemic status were determined by feeding test on streptozotocin induced type 2 diabetic model rats. Plasma glucose concentrations were measured at baseline and after oral administration of ADHPs. Acute responses were investigated after 30 and 60 minutes of oral glucose load when ADHPs were administered simultaneously or 30 minutes before oral glucose load. Chronic responses were investigated at 14 and 28 days after ADHPs administration in two different doses. Data were expressed as mean±SD. Statistical analysis within groups was done using paired‘t’- test. Comparison between groups was done using one-way ANOVA with post Hoc Bonferroni test. Among the six ADHPs tested, only ADHP-3 showed significant reduction of plasma glucose levels compared to control. It was effective at 30 (p<0.05) and 75 (p<0.01) minutes when ADHPs were administered simultaneously with oral glucose load. ADHP-3 was also effective at 60 and 105 minutes (p<0.01 at both time points) when ADHPs were administered 30 minutes before oral glucose load. In case of chronic responses evaluation, ADHP-3 at a dose of 200 mg/kg/day insignificantly reduced blood glucose levels compared to baseline (p=0.342) at 28 days but at a dose of 400 mg/kg/day significantly reduced blood glucose levels (p=0.040).