 1: 964972 (2011) azreen   964 HYPOGLYCEMIC ACTIVITY OF BAMBUSA ARUDIACEA LEAF ETHAOLIC EXTRACT I STREPTOZOTOCI IDUCED DIABETIC RATS Syed Nazreen, Gurpreet Kaur, Mohammad Mahboob Alam, Saqlain Haider, Hinna Hamid, Mohammad Sarwar Alam* Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Jamia Hamdard (Hamdard University) ew Delhi110 062, India. Correspondence to Prof. M. S. Alam, Email ID. msalam@jamiahamdard.ac.in . Phone: +91 11 26059688(5555), Fax: +91 11 26059663. Summary The hypoglycaemic activity of the ethanolic extract and different fractions of leaves of Bambusa arundinacea were carried out in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. The effect of the extract and different fractions on biochemical parameters were also assessed to evaluate their activity in controlling diabetes related metabolic conditions. The biochemical parameters include lipid peroxidation, reduced glutathione levels and activity of antioxidant enzymes. The results indicate that the ethyl acetate fraction at 150 mg/kg b.w. significantly lowers blood glucose level (105±15.58 mg/dL) comparable to standard drug glibenclamide (95 ± 10.64 mg/dL) (3 mg/kg b.w.) with insignificant ulceration compared to the standard. Also, there was reduction in lipid peroxidation level and glutathione levels and elevation in the activity of antioxidant enzymes. From the phytochemical investigation, β>sitosterol glucoside and stigmasterol have been isolated in pure form from the ethyl acetate and chloroform fractions. This study suggests that leaf extract of Bambusa arundinacea could be potentially useful for treatment of hyperglycaemia. Keywords: Bambusa arundinacea; diabetes; β>sitosterol glucoside; stigmasterol. Introduction Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common chronic metabolic disease characterized by hyperglycaemia and various metabolic imbalances. Its prevalence is about 6% worldwide and the number of cases, presently estimated at more than 150 million, is predicted to double by 2025 [1>3] . Currently available therapies for diabetes include insulin and various oral anti>diabetic agents which have a number of serious adverse effects; thus, managing diabetes without any side effects is still a challenge [4] . Therefore, the search for more effective and safer hypoglycemic agents has continued to be an important area of investigation. In this context, plant based antidiabetic therapeutics are the current days interest, and the hypoglycemic effect of several plants used as antidiabetic remedies has been confirmed, and the mechanisms of hypoglycemic activity of these plants are being studied [5>7] .