International Scholars Journals International Journal of Medicinal Plants Research ISSN: 2169-303X Vol. 2 (1), pp. 129-134, January, 2013. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. Full Length Research Paper Acute and chronic hypoglycaemic effect of Achillea santolina aqueous leaves extract Najim Abbas J. Al-awwadi Department of Pharmacology, University Thi qare Al Nasiriyah – IRAQ. Accepted 10 October, 2012 Achillea santolina, (Asteraceae) is a plant traditionally used in Iraq, Egypt and Pakistan as a tonic, vermifugal and carminative and also for stomach pain and hypertension. It contains several polyphenols, a family of compounds with a great anti-diabetic potential. The present study investigates the hypoglycemic effect produced by the acute and chronic administration of Achillea santolina leaf extract in streptozotocin (STZ)- induced diabetic rats. Oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) were conducted in STZ-diabetic rats using orally administered glucose (5 g/kg body weight) followed or accompanied by the leaf extract (150 or 250 mg/kg body weight). Weekly plasma glucose concentrations were recorded in control STZ-diabetic rats and diabetic rats orally treated with the leaf extract. The acute administration of the aqueous extract of A. santolina resulted in significant reductions of glycemia in diabetic rats after oral administration at doses of 250 mg/kg and 150 mg/kg. Since the A. santolina extract showed a marked hypoglycemic activity, it was administered daily per os to streptozotocin diabetic rats during 28 days. After 28 days of A. santolina extract administration at a dose of 250 mg/kg/day, diabetic rats showed improvement in glycemia when compared with the diabetic control group. In conclusion our results demonstrate that A. santolina seems to present some interesting hypoglycemiant effects with a drug dose dependant response. Key words: Anchilea, santolina, diabetes Mellitus, HOMA, glucose, insulin. INTRODUCTION Diabetes mellitus is a complex metabolic disorder that affects between 6 to 20% of the population in Western industrialized societies, with an estimated worldwide prevalence of 150 million people in 2000, a number that is expected to increase to 220million people in 2010 (Zimmet et al., 2001; Fracchiolla et al., 2007). Furthermore, taking into account its present rate of increase, within few decades it will be one of the world's commonest diseases and one of the biggest public-health problems with an estimated minimum of half-a-billion cases (Diamond, 2003). Up to now, many kinds of antidiabetic medicines have been developed for the patients and most of them are chemical or biochemical agents aiming at controlling or/and lowering blood glucose to a normal level. _______________________________________ *Corresponding Author’s E-mail:najimabbas@yahoo.fr Plant materials which are used as traditional medicine for the treatment of diabetes are considered some of the finest sources for the development of new drugs. Plant extracts or plant preparations are being prescribed by the traditional practitioners and also accepted by the users for diabetes in many countries. Despite the impressive advances in health sciences and medical care, there are many patients who are still using complementary or alternative therapies alone to the prescribed medication. Traditional plant remedies or herbal formulations exist from ancient times and are still widely used despite all the controversiesassociated with their efficacy and safety (Huxtable 1990;Fugh-Berman 2000),Very few plants widely used in folk medicine, are still tested and screened for their pharmacological activities. Yet they provide an unlimited source of big interest compound which can further become new active drugs. Recently, there has been renewed interest in the