Hypoglycemic effects of Enhydra fluctuans aerial extract on alloxan-induced diabetic rats

Abstract

Abstract Enhydra fluctuans is one of the medicinal plants of the Minangkabau tribe, West Sumatra, Indonesia which is widely used by the community to treat various diseases including diabetes mellitus. However, scientific studying of its hypoglycemic activity is very limited. In this study, we evaluated the hypoglycemic activity of E. fluctuans aerial ethanol using an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in stable hyperglycemia rats and its phytochemical screening. Twenty-five diabetic rats were divided into five groups with five replications: negative control, positive control (glibenclamide), ethanol extract dosage of 250, 500, and 1000 mg/kg. Blood glucose is measured at 0, 30, 60, 120, and 180 minutes. Blood glucose level, the area under the curve (AUC) value, and the percentage of blood glucose reduction is calculated. It was found that a dosage of 500 mg/kg was the best hypoglycemic activity in stable hyperglycemia rats and significantly different (p<0.05) compared with the negative control. Hypoglycemic activity of this dosage was longer if compared with glibenclamide. E. fluctuans aerial ethanol extract contained saponins, phenolic, terpenoids, steroids, and coumarin compounds. Our findings demonstrate that E. fluctuans have potent hypoglycemic effects in diabetes.