Studies on antidiabetic and antioxidant potential of Ipomoea carnea

Many indigenous medicinal plants have been found to be useful for the management of diabetes. Ipomoea carnea is one such medicinal plant used in folk medicine for treatment of leucoderma, related skin diseases and diabetes. Therefore, the present investigation was undertaken to investigate the anti-hyperglycemic effect of hot aqueous extract, cold aqueous extract and ethanolic extract of Ipomoea carnea leaves for the management of diabetes mellitus and alleviation of oxidative stress in rats. Single i.p. administration of STZ @ 60mg/Kg to rats elevated glucose levels >225mg/dl on day 5 and such rats were divided into 7 groups with six rats in each group. Blood samples collected from retro-orbital fossa after 10 & 21days were assayed for blood glucose, lipid profile and stress biomarkers. Administration of extracts either @ 500mg/kg or 750mg/kg daily for 21days resulted in significant (P<0.05) reduction in blood glucose within 10 days. Significant (P<0.05) improvement in lipid profile was observed with significant decline in the total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL and increase in HDL compared to diabetic control with alcoholic extracts at both doses.