Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2014) 3(2): 584-590 584 Original Research Article Antidiabetic activity of Amaranthus dubiousethanolic leaf extract on alloxan induced diabetic mice Chandrashekhar Unakal 1 * and Mercy Newman 2 1 School of Biomedical and Laboratory Sciences, University of Gondar, Ethiopia 2 Department of Nutrition, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Pondicherry, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Type-2 diabetes is a chronic disease caused by inherited and/ or acquired deficiency in production of insulin by the pancreas, or by the ineffectiveness of the insulin production. Such a deficiency results in increased concentration of glucose in the blood, which in turn damage many of the body s systems, in particular, the blood vessels and nerves. The hyperglycemia due to decreased insulin production (Type 1) or insufficient insulin utilization (Type 2)(Marshal and Bangret, 2004)of this type 2 diabetes is the major problem of today and it account for nearly 95% of total diabetic population of about 246 million and is projected to ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 3 Number 2 (2014) pp. 584-590 http://www.ijcmas.com Keywords Diabetes; alloxan; antidabetic; glibenclamide; Amaranthus dubious Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin. Amaranthus dubious is an indigenous plant, has a folk reputation in Asia, Europe and Africa. It is used for the conventional therapy of several diseases such as hypertension and cardiovascular disease; regular consumption reduces blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The present study was carried out to evaluate the antidiabetic effect Amaranthus dubious and to study the activities of liver glycolytic and gluconeogenic enzymes such as glucose 6- phosphatase and fructose1,6-disphosphatase in the liver of control and alloxan diabetic mice. Oral administration of ethanolic leaf extract of Amaranthus dubious (400 mg/kg body weight) to diabetic mice for 45 days resulted in reduction of blood glucose and applied doses did not cause any acute toxicity changes. The glucolytic enzyme activity of glucokinase in liver showed minimum effect in diabetic mice but diabetic mice treated with plant extract showed elevated effect and their values were near normal. The gluconeogenic enzyme activities of glucose-6-phosphatase and fructose 1,6-diphosphatase in liver showed higher level in diabetic mice but diabetic mice treated with the Amaranthus dubiousethanolic extract showed lower level and there value were near normal value. Glibenclamide was used as reference drug in this investigation.