Euphorbia hirta, commonly known as asthma weed, is a popular folk remedy for the treatment of various ailments. Recent studies have indicated that plant has potent antioxidant properties. As part of an ongoing program to validate the use of some reputed herbs in Indian traditional medicines, the present study was aimed to evaluate the antidiabetic and antioxidant potentials of E. hirta leaves in streptozotocin-induced experimental diabetes in rats.
Oral administration of E. irta leaves extract (300 mg/kg b. w. /rat/day) for a period of 30 days indicated the antidiabetic nature of the leaves extract. Determination of the lipid peroxides, hydroperoxides, and both enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants evidenced the antioxidant potential of the leaves extract. Assay of enzymes such as serum aspartate transaminase (AST), serum alanine transaminase (ALT) and serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) revealed the non-toxic nature of E. hirta leaves. The hypoglycemic activity of the leaves extract was comparable with gliclazide, a standard reference drug.
Antidiabetic and Free Radicals Scavenging Potential of Euphorbia hirta Flower Extract. Source Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra-136 119, India. Abstract The present study was carried out to evaluate antidiabetic and in vitro free radicals scavenging effects of flower extract of Euphorbia hirta. The ethanolic and petroleum ether extracts (250 and 500 mg/kg) were orally tested for 21 days in alloxan induced diabetic mice and blood glucose level was measured with glucometer.
Administration of extract resulted in significant reduction in serum cholesterol, triglycerides, creatinine, urea, alkaline phosphatase levels but high density lipoprotein levels and total proteins were found to be increased after treatments. Free radicals scavenging effect of ethanolic extract was also evaluated by various antioxidant assays, including 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl free radical scavenging activity, superoxide anion radical scavenging, nitric oxide scavenging, and reducing power assay.
It was compared with standard antioxidants compounds such as butylated hydroxyl anisole and ascorbic acid. All the extracts showed antioxidant activity in all the tested methods. 21218075 [PubMed] Antidiabetic and antihyperlipidemic effect of Euphorbia hirta in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats Kumar Maurya1*, Smriti Tripathi1, Zabeer Ahmed2, Ram Kumar Sahu3 ABSTRACT The present study was aimed to evaluate the anti diabetic activity potential of Euphorbia hirta leaves against streptozotocin (STZ) induced experimental rats.
Ethanolic extract of E. irta leaves was administered to streptozotocin-induced rats. Glibenclamide was used as a standard drug. Blood glucose levels were determined after oral administration of a dose of Euphorbia hirta (400 mg/kg b. wt) in diabetic groups. Blood glucose levels were determined on 0, 7th, 14th and 21st day after oral administration of ethanolic extracts of E. hirta (400 mg/kg). An ethanolic extract of Euphorbia hirta was found to reduce blood sugar in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. Reduction in blood sugar could be seen from 7th day after continuous administration of the extract.
The effect of extracts of Euphorbia hirta on serum lipid profile like total cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoprotein (LDL), very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) were also measured in the diabetic and non diabetic rats. There was significant reduction in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, VLDL cholesterol and improvement in HDL cholesterol in diabetic rats. These results indicated that Euphorbia hirta possesses significant hypoglycemic and antihyperlipidemic effect.
