DOI: 10.21276/haya.2017.2.2.4 43 Research Article Haya: The Saudi Journal of Life Sciences ISSN 2415-623X (Print) Scholars Middle East Publishers ISSN 2415-6221 (Online) Dubai, United Arab Emirates Website: http://scholarsmepub.com/ Hypoglycemic Activity of Curcuma longa Linn Root Extracts on Alloxan Induced Diabetic Rats A. Mohammed 1* , A. M. Wudil 2 , A. J. Alhassan 2 , A.A. Imam 2 , I. U. Muhammad 2 , A. Idi 2 1 Department of Biochemistry, College of Medical Sciences, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, PMB 0248 Bauchi. Nigeria 2 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Basic Science, Bayero University, PMB 3011, Kano, Nigeria *Corresponding Author: A. Mohammed Email: abdulrash2010@yahoo.com Abstract: Plants form the main ingredients of medicine in traditional system of healing and have been the source of inspiration for several major pharmaceutical drugs. In spite of great advances of modern scientific medicine, there is a rapid increase in the use of alternative medicine worldwide. To investigate the effect of the aqueous root extract, Methanol and n-Hexane root fractions of Curcuma longa Linn on Alloxan Induced Diabetic Rats. A total of thirty-six (36) rats were used and were grouped into six (6) groups of six (6) rats each. Group I served as normal control, group II served as diabetic control, Group III rats were induced with diabetes and administered with standard drug (Metformin, 100mg/kg) while Groups IV, V and VI were induced with diabetes and administered with crude aqueous extract, methanol and n-hexane fractions respectively at a dose of 400mg/kg body weight for four weeks. The research found that the methanol fraction showed highest potency with a significant (p<0.05) decrease in blood glucose level when compared to diabetic control after few days of fraction administration, it was followed by the aqueous extract which also shows hypoglycemic activity a week after administration. N-hexane fraction showed a marked hypoglycemic activity only after about two weeks of administration with the fraction. The present study demonstrated that the methanol fraction possesses the highest hypoglycemic activity. Keywords: Alloxan, Hypoglycemic activity, Curcuma longa linn and Metformin. INTRODUCTION Diabetes mellitus is a non-communicable disease which have been shown to improve with medicinal plants. It is a metabolic disorder characterized by chronic hyperglycemia with disturbances of carbohydrate, fats and protein metabolism resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action or both [1]. Diabetes is also referred to as a syndrome of disorder in metabolism usually due to the combination of hereditary and environmental causes resulting in abnormally high blood sugar levels (hyperglycemia) [2]. Blood glucose levels are controlled by a complex interaction of multiple chemical and hormones in the body including the hormones insulin made in beta cells of the pancreas. Diabetes mellitus develops due to diminished production of insulin (in type I) or resistances to its effects (in type II and gestational), both leads to hyperglycemia, which largely causes the acute signs of diabetes and changes in energy metabolism [3]. As a result of the deficiency of insulin or inadequate insulin function there is an inadequate transfer of glucose into the cells; the utilization of glucose for energy and cellular products and its conversion to glycogen or fat and storage as such are depressed, thereby leading to accumulation of glucose in the blood, causing hyperglycemia. Fat may be mobilized from adipose tissue and broken down to provide a source of energy, which is eventually withdrawn from the body by the liver and broken down to glycerol and fatty acids leading to oxidation by the hepatic cells to ketone bodies and metabolizes by cells to produced energy, carbon dioxide and water. Only a limited amount of ketone acids can be utilized by cells as such if ketogenesis proceeds rapidly, exceeding the rate at which they can be metabolized, the ketone acids accumulate in the blood causing ketosis or ketone acidosis [4]. Tissue protein may also be broken down to amino acids which are used in gluconeogenesis contributing to the hyperglycemia. Both the uptake of amino acids by the cells and body protein synthesis are decreased. Insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) usually has a sudden onset in a severe, acute form. In non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) the onset is most often insidious going undetected and untreated for a considerable period of time.