Potential antidiabetic, hypolipidaemic and antioxidant effects of Nymphaea pubescens extract in alloxan induced diabetic rats

The present study was designed to investigate the possible antidiabetic, hypolipidaemic and antioxidant effects of ethanol extract of Nymphaea pubescens tuber. Diabetes was induced in Albino rats by administration of alloxan monohydrate (150 mg/kg, body weight i.p). The ethanol extract of Nymphaea pubescens tuber at a dose of 200mg/kg and 500mg/kg body weight were administered at single dose per day to diabetes induced rats for a period of 14 days. The effect of ethanol extract of Nymphaea pubescens tuber extract on blood glucose, plasma insulin, urea creatinine, glycosylated haemoglobin, serum lipid profile (total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein- cholesterol (LDL-C), very low density lipoprotein- cholesterol (VLDL-C) , high density lipoprotein- cholesterol (HDLC) and phospholipids (PL)), serum protein, albumin, globulin, serum enzymes (Serum glutamate pyruvate transaminases (SGPT), serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminases (SGOT) and alkaline phosphate (ALP)), lipoprotein peroxidation (LPO), blood reduced glutathione (GSH), oxidative glutathione (GSSG), GSH/GSSG ratio, erythrocytes glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) were measured in the diabetic rats. The ethanol extracts of Nymphaea pubescens tuber elicited significant (p<0.05) reductions of blood glucose, lipid parameters except HDL-C, serum enzymes and significantly increased HDL-C and antioxidant. The extract also caused significant increase in plasma insulin (p<0.05) in the diabetic rats. In conclusion, ethanol extract of Nymphaea pubescens tuber offers promising antidiabetic and hypolipidaemic effects that may be mainly attributed to its potent antioxidant potential. Further studies will be needed in future in order to determine which one or more of its active constituents have the main antidiabetic and hypolidaemic effects.