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Hindi Research Article
HYPOGLYCEMIC EFFECT AND IN VITRO ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF THE DICHLOROMETHANE FRACTION FROM THE LEAVES OF FICUS ODORATA (BLANCO) MERR. (MORACEAE)
Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate the hypoglycemic and antioxidant activity of the leaves of Ficus odorata. The methanolic crude extract was fractionated by liquid-liquid partitioning using organic solvents with increasing polarity. Four fractions were obtained such as, hexane, dichloromethane (DCM), ethyl acetate and water. Of the four fractions tested, DCM fraction yielded the highest amount of flavonoid content at 335.63 mg QE/g sample. TLC and HPLC analyses of DCM fraction revealed that quercetin may be present in the fraction. In acute oral toxicity test, zero mortality rate was observed after 14 days of treatment. Gross necropsies of selected rat organs were normal. Histopathological analyses of liver and kidneys were unremarkable. In hypoglycemic study, induction of diabetes was successfully completed in 28 days using single dose of streptozotocin (30 mg/kg body weight) and high fat diet (Srinivasan et al., 2005). Daily oral administration of DCM fraction showed that at a dose of 50 mg/kg (p<0.001) and 200 mg/Kg (p=0.002) produced significant decrease in their mean blood sugar after the 14-day treatment. The same effect was observed with the positive control at 10 mg/kg of glyburide (p<0.001). On the other hand, the results in the in vitro antioxidant activity showed that DCM fraction exhibited scavenging activity against hydroxyl radical and hydrogen peroxide with an IC50 value of 0.275 mg/mL and 4.954 mg/mL, respectively. The results indicate that DCM fraction from the leaves of Ficus odorata has potential hypoglycemic and antioxidant properties. It is non-toxic up to 2000 mg/Kg.
