Vol 10, Issue 12, 2017 Online - 2455-3891 Print - 0974-2441 SCREENING OF TEN HERBAL EXTRACTS TO COMPARE AND INVESTIGATE EFFECT ON GLUCOSE LOWERING AND ANOREXIC ACTIVITY IN WISTAR RATS DEEPTI KAUSHALKUMAR JANI 1 *, SUNITA GOSWAMI 2 1 Department of Pharmacology, Babaria Institute of Pharmacy, Varnama, Vadodara, Gujarat, India. 2 Department of Pharmacology, L.M. College of Pharmacy, Ahmadabad, Gujarat, India. Email: deeptijani.bip@bitseducampus.ac.in Received: 21 June 2017, Revised and Accepted: 23 August 2017 ABSTRACT Objective: Metabolic disorders are of growing concern with increasing quest for herbal medicines as a treatment option. The current study is planned to screen 10 herbal extracts, prepared from various parts of six herbal plants, to compare and investigate their antihyperglycemic and anorexic potential. Methods: The qualitative phytochemical investigation was done as per the standard procedures. Acute oral toxicity study performed as per the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development 420 guideline. Method optimization of glucose tolerance test (GTT) was done to select appropriate glucose load to induce hyperglycemia. Antihyperglycemic activity was evaluated by GTT (single dose and multiple dose study) and food intake inhibitory potential was screened by food intake measurement. Results: All herbs were found safe in acute oral toxicity study. GTT method optimization study signaled use of 3 g/kg glucose load for induction of hyperglycemia in single- and multiple-dose studies. In single-dose study, Luffa acutangula fruit extract and in multiple dose study, Solanum melongena, Moringa Oleifera, and Ricinus communis extracts were found to produce a significant glucose lowering effect as compared to the glucose control group. Results of food intake measurement showed significant appetite suppression with extracts of W. somnifera, S. melongena, M. oleifera, and R. communis. Conclusion: The present study throws light on the effectiveness of experimental herbal extracts as antihyperglycemic and anorexic agents. This also helps in identifying potent indigenous herbs for further study. Keywords: Glucose tolerance test, Herbal medicine, Hyperglycemia. INTRODUCTION Metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity are associated with insulin resistance result into hyperglycemia. Hyperglycemia is the main characteristic symptom of diabetes mellitus [1]. Hyperglycemia contributes to the poor quality of life, reduced life expectancy, and leads to the elevated medical costs [2] and another point of concern is adverse effects associated with currently available synthetic anti-diabetic drugs [3]. Hyperglycemia leads to 3.7 million deaths per year [4], which indicates need to search for new drugs as a treatment option. Overeating leads to the disease such as obesity [5]. As worldwide, more than 70% of adult population is overweight [4], so the eating disorders are of growing concern. Drugs such as fenfluramine, rimonabant, and sibutramine were approved due to their appetite depressant potential, but these drugs were withdrawn from the market due to their psychological and cardiovascular adverse effects [6], indicating that investigations should be done to find out a safer appetite suppressant. Herbal medicines are a safe and effective option with fewer side effects [7]. There are so many herbal extracts screened till date for the treatment of the metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity. Many of them are well known as per Ayurvedic, Unani, or Siddha system of medication. These well-known plants were studied in depth for their potential to treat metabolic diseases significantly. On the other side, there are so many herbal extracts studied briefly for the treatment of few or any one condition associated with metabolic disorders. In this study, such herbal extracts are chosen to evaluate and compare their antihyperglycemic and appetite depressants potential. The plants selected for the study are Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb., Raphanus sativus Linn., Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal, Ricinus communis Linn., Solanum melongena Linn., and Moringa oleifera Linn. Azadirachta indica, A. Juss is chosen to study as herbal standard (Fig. 1). MATERIALS AND METHODS Materials used Accu-Chek ® active Glucometer (Roche Diagnostics, Germany) was purchased with Accu-Chek ® active strips. Metformin (Glucophage, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Vadodara, India) and Rimonabant (Gift Sample from Cadila Healthcare Ltd., India) were used as standard drug. Herbal plants were collected by field collection. Experimental animals and ethical approval Wistar rats of either sex, weighing 200-250 g, were used in this study. Animals were housed under standard condition (well ventilated, Research Article Fig. 1: Study of herbs for glucose lowering and food intake inhibitory activity © 2017 The Authors. Published by Innovare Academic Sciences Pvt Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4. 0/) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22159/ajpcr.2017.v10i12 .20869