Development and Evaluation of Polyherbal Formulation for Diabetes Anupam Bisht 1 *, Harinath Dwivedi 1 , Ajay Kumar Singh Rawat 2 A BSTRACT Objective: Treatment of diabetes without any adverse efects is a big challenge to the medical fraternity. There is need for alternative drugs with no side efects. The present study is aimed to develop a polyherbal formulation for efective management of diabetes using some of the indigenous plants taking lead from ethnobotanical information. Ajuga parvifora, Saraca asoca, Potentilla fulgens and Aconitum heterophyllum were selected for the development of antidiabetic formulation. Materials and Methods: Preliminary phytochemical screening of selected plants were performed. In-vitro antidiabetic activity of plants and standard drug acarbose was evaluated by α-amylase inhibition assay. The polyherbal suspension prepared and its antidiabetic activity was evaluated in a streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat model. Results: Preliminary phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, terpenoids, favonoids, phenolics and tannins in the plants. The prepared formulation was brown, easily pourable from the container and have redispersibility property with optimum particle size distribution. Sedimentation studies showed that the sedimentation volume of a formulation is in-between a range of 1. Administration of polyherbal formulation at 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg dose for 21 days to diabetic rats decreased fasting blood sugar 159 ± 2.81 mg/dL and 147.74 ± 2.03 mg/dL respectively as compared to the diabetic control group 361 ± 3.89 mg/dL. Conclusion: The present fndings indicated that developed polyherbal formulation at a dose of 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg showed signifcant antihyperglycemic activity (***p<0.001) in streptozotocin induced diabetic rat model. Keywords: Aconitum heterophyllum, Ajuga parvifora, Diabetes, Polyherbal formulation, Potentilla fulgens, Saraca asoca Asian Pac. J. Health Sci., (2021); DOI: 10.21276/apjhs.2021.8.4.07 ©2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http:// creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. I NTRODUCTION Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a chronic hyperglycemic condition with elevated blood glucose levels. [1] It may be either impaired insulin production or the inability of cells to respond properly to the insulin synthesized from beta cells. [2] The diabetic condition is described by fasting hyperglycemia alongside a danger of thrombolytic and atherosclerotic problems that predominantly infuence the cerebral, fringe, and coronary veins. Diabetes is associated with various complications including microvascular and macrovascular complications such as retinopathy, nephropathy, atherosclerosis, endothelial dysfunction, and erectile dysfunctions. [3] Oral hypoglycemic drugs are efective in the management of diabetes. In recent years, the most accepted drugs for the management of diabetes are insulin and oral hypoglycemic agents. There are several types of glucose-lowering drugs including insulin secretagogues (sulfonylurea and meglitinides), insulin sensitizers (biguanides, metformin, and thiazolidinediones), and α-glucosidase inhibitors (miglitol and acarbose). [4] A newer class of agent dipeptidyl peptidase-IV inhibitors is sitagliptin and vildagliptin. They promote blood glucose homeostasis by stimulating insulin secretion from pancreatic beta cells in a glucose-dependent manner. [5] However, most glucose-lowering drugs may have side efects, such as severe hypoglycemia, lactic acidosis, liver cell injury, permanent neurological defcit, digestive discomfort, headache, dizziness, and even death. [6] Several plant species have been reported in the traditional system of medicine to treat diabetes. In recent years, there has been an increased inclination toward herbal formulations due to the trend toward natural sources and a healthy lifestyle. Moreover, the complexity, side efects, and costly treatment associated with the allopathic medicines have caused both the health-care 1 School of Pharmacy, Babu Banarasi Das University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India 2 Pharmacognosy and Ethnopharmacology Division, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India Corresponding Author: Anupam Bisht, School of Pharmacy, Babu Banarasi Das University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. E-mail: anupam_sajwan@yahoo.com How to cite this article: Bisht A, Dwivedi H, Rawat AKS. Development and Evaluation of Polyherbal Formulation for Diabetes. Asian Pac. J. Health Sci., 2021;8(4):48-54. Source of support: Nil. Confict of interest: None. Received: 01/07/21 Revised: 19/08/21 Accepted: 01/10/21  practitioners and the majority of world populations to turn toward alternative therapies, more likely toward the herbal medicines since these systems are believed to be free from side efects and afordable. Various traditional medicinal plants and synthetic compounds derived from their active principles have been shown to possess antidiabetic properties. Several phytomolecules including favonoids, alkaloids, glycosides, saponins, glycolipids, dietary fbers, polysaccharides, peptidoglycans, carbohydrates, amino acids, and others obtained from various plant sources have been reported as potent hypoglycemic agents. [7] In the traditional system of plant medicine, it is usual to use plant formulation and combined extract of the plant as a drug of choice rather than individual ones, to get the advantage of synergism, and to fnd suitable antidiabetic and antioxidant combination therapy. [8] Nowadays, the polyherbal formulation concept is developed. These formulations were found efective in chronic illness. In diabetes treatment, many polyherbal ORIGINAL ARTICLE e-ISSN: 2349-0659 p-ISSN; 2350-0964