Journal of Ethnopharmacology 131 (2010) 140–145 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Ethnopharmacology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jethpharm Anti-hyperglycemic activity of the leaves of Tetracera scandens Linn. Merr. (Dilleniaceae) in alloxan induced diabetic rats Abdulrashid Umar a , Qamar U. Ahmed a,∗ , Bala Y. Muhammad b , Bashar Bello S. Dogarai a , Siti Zaiton Bt. Mat Soad a a Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), 25200 Kuantan, Pahang DM, Malaysia b Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), 25200 Kuantan, Pahang DM, Malaysia article info Article history: Received 2 April 2010 Received in revised form 10 June 2010 Accepted 11 June 2010 Available online 18 June 2010 Keywords: Tetracera scandens L. Dilleniaceae Alloxan induced diabetic rats Anti-hyperglycemic activity in vivo abstract Aim of the study: The present study was aimed to investigate the anti-diabetic potential of the leaves of Tetracera scandens Linn. Merr. (Dilleniaceae) in vivo with regard to prove its efficacy by local herbalists in the treatment of diabetes frailties. Materials and methods: Crude aqueous (AQ) and methanol (MEOH) extracts of the leaves of T. scandens L. were administered to both normal and alloxan induced diabetic male albino rats (Wistar strain). The blood glucose levels were measured at 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 h after oral administration of AQ and MEOH extracts. Results: Significant reduction in glucose was observed in fasting blood glucose levels in the treated diabetic rats without causing any hypoglycemic effect compared to normal rats. Both polar extracts of the leaves of T. scandens L. exhibited significant anti-hyperglycemic activity at different doses and intervals. The highest anti-hyperglycemic effect (62.5%) was observed by the AQ extract at 0.25 g/kg body weight (b.w.) and MEOH extract (36.5%) at 0.5 g/kg b.w. after 8 h. The significant anti-hyperglycemic activity was found to be comparable with a known oral synthetic hypoglycemic drug, glibenclamide 0.25 mg/kg b.w. Conclusion: This study provides scientific evidence that the leaves of T. scandens L. have anti-diabetic efficacy and justifies its utility by local herbalists. However, more experiments at the clinical levels are required to confirm the utility of this plant by traditional practitioners in the management of diabetes mellitus. © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder which is char- acterized by hyperglycemia (excessive hepatic glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis) resulting from the deficiency in the production of insulin by the pancreas or its action. The etiology of type-1 diabetes is the absolute deficiency of insulin secretion, while that of type-2 is a combination of insulin resistance with inadequate compensatory insulin-secretory response. Patients with diabetes experience sig- nificant morbidity and mortality from microvascular (retinopathy, neuropathy, and nephropathy) and macrovascular complications (heart attack, stroke and peripheral vascular disease) (Altan, 2003). The cost of treating diabetes and associated complications exceeds $100 billion per year. The complications are far less common and less severe in people who have well-controlled blood sugar levels. Due to the multiplication of diabetics worldwide, a great consider- ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 9 5716400; fax: +60 9 5716775. E-mail addresses: quahmed@iiu.edu.my, qamaruahmed@yahoo.com (Q.U. Ahmed). ation is given to the disease by health care managements both at national and international levels. Over the past ten years, the num- ber of diabetics has risen by 5% par annum (p.a.) to approximately 250 million and has been projected to become one of the world’s major killers within next 25 years (Zimmet et al., 2001). The disease affects all regions of the world but the share of dia- betics in the overall population is particularly high in the eastern Mediterranean countries and the Middle East (9%), in North Amer- ica (8%) and in Europe (7%). Up until 2025 the WDF (World Diabetes Foundation) expects the number of diabetics to increase by 2.5% per year to about 380 million (Wild et al., 2004). Hence, the neces- sity for developing newer drug therapies to prevent the burden of complications associated with such disease. Natural products and their derivatives have historically been precious as a source of therapeutic agents. There is now a greater interest in the scientific community to evaluate both crude and isolated natural products in experimental studies and traditional medicines have always been proved to be a fruitful source of future drugs to counteract any disease including insulin resistance, consistent with a resurgence of interest in drug discovery from natural products (Koehn and Carter, 2005; Bnouham et al., 2006; Frode and Medeiros, 2008). The 0378-8741/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2010.06.016