Abstract
Introduction: Moringa oleifera and Morinda citrifolia are the medicinal plants used to treat diabetes and liver diseases.
Objectives: This study was done to evaluate and compare the hypoglycemic and hepatoprotective activity of Moringa oleifera and Morinda citrifolia leaf extracts using male Sprague Dawley rats.
Materials and Methods: Healthy Sprague-Dawley male rats weighing 200 to 220 g were used for the study. Animals were randomly distributed into five groups of five for each; control (C), diabetic control (DC), diabetic standard (DS), Moringa oleifera (MO) and Morinda citrifolia (MC). Diabetes was induced using 50 mgs of streptozotocin/kg body weight. After two days of streptozotocin induction, animals with blood glucose value of 190 mg/dL and above were considered diabetic. The animals of MO and MC treated groups were fed with 300 mgs of M. oleifera and M. citrifolia leaf extract respectively, along with normal food and water ad libitum. Meanwhile the animals of DS group were administered with glibenclamide at a dose of 2.5 mg/kg/d with food while animals of group DC and C were left untreated. Blood glucose levels and body weight of all the animals were measured at Days 1, 7 and 14.
Results: Diabetic experimental animals treated with M. oleifera, showed a significant decrease in fasting glucose from 236 mg/dL (day 1) to 171 mg/dL (day 14), and this represented a decrease of 26 %. The animals treated with M. citrifolia showed a decrease in fasting blood glucose from 257 to 169 (34 %). The diabetic standard group showed the reduction in fasting blood sugar from 251mg/dL to 134 mg/dL (47%). The liver enzymes remained normal in the extract treated animals and the histology report of the liver tissue did not show any abnormal features.
Conclusion: The data of this study showed that M. citrifolia has higher hypoglycaemic activity than M. oleifera without having toxic effect on liver. Therefore, our study recommends the use of both extracts either individually or in the ratio of 1:1 mixture to manage the diabetes.