Planta Medica, Table of Contents Planta Med 1990; 56(3): 264-267DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-960952 Paper © Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York Hypoglycaemic Activity of Dioscoretine from Tubers of Dioscorea dumetorum in Normal and Alloxan Diabetic Rabbits M. M. Iwu1 , C. O. Okunji1 , G. O. Ohiaeri1 , P. Akah2 , D. Corley3 , M. S. Tempesta3 1Phytotherapy Research Laboratory, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria 2Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria 3Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Science, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65211, U.S.A. Recommend Article Abstract PDF Download Buy Article Abstract Dioscoretine isolated from the aqueous fraction of the methanol extract of Dioscorea dumetorum tubers when administered intra-peritoneally to normal and alloxan diabetic rabbits produces significant hypoglycaemic effects at a dose of 20 mg/kg. The fasting blood sugar in normoglycaemic rabbits was reduced from 112 mg/100 ml to 55 mg/100 ml after 4 hours. In alloxan diabetic rabbits, the blood sugar was lowered from 520 mg/100 ml to 286 mg/100 ml at the same time interval. The aqueous fraction of the methanol extract produced comparable effects at 100 mg/kg. The chloroform fraction of the same extract raised the fasting blood sugar of normal rabbits to 196 mg/100 ml after 6 h. The acute toxicity studies gave LD50 values of 1.4 g/kg for the aqueous fraction and 0.58 g/kg for dioscoretine when tested on mice. The hypoglycaemic effects were compared to those of tolbutamide. Key words Dioscorea dumetorum - dioscoretine - African traditional medicine - diabetes - hypoglycaemic activity PDF (328 kb)
