Research Article Biochemical and Histological Evaluation of Three Selected Medicinal Plant Extracts of Sri Lankan Origin on Dyslipidemia and Oxidative Stress in Alloxan Induced Diabetic Rats Anoja Priyadarshani Attanayake , 1 Kamani Ayoma Perera Wijewardana Jayatilaka , 1 Lakmini Kumari Boralugoda Mudduwa, 2 and Chitra Pathirana 1 1 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Karapitiya, Sri Lanka 2 Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Karapitiya, Sri Lanka Correspondence should be addressed to Anoja Priyadarshani Attanayake; anoja715@yahoo.com Received 26 January 2018; Accepted 17 May 2018; Published 12 June 2018 Academic Editor: Tariq Mahmood Copyright © 2018 Anoja Priyadarshani Attanayake et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Te objective of the present study was to investigate the efect of refuxed aqueous extracts of Gmelina arborea, Spondias pinnata, and Coccinia grandis on atherogenicity and oxidative stress in rats with chemically induced type 1 diabetes mellitus. Alloxan monohydrate (150 mg/kg, intraperitoneal) was used to induce diabetes to Wistar rats. Tereafer, diabetic rats (n=6 per group) were treated with the three selected plant extracts at their optimum efective therapeutic doses and glibenclamide (0.50 mg/kg, positive control) for 30 days. Administration of the three extracts in diabetic rats exhibited antihyperglycemic, antiatherogenic, and antioxidant efects in diabetic rats on the 30th day of the study. Te atherogenic and coronary risk indices were also reduced in support of the antiatherogenic efects. Te results of the study revealed that the bark extracts of G. arborea, S. pinnata, and leaf extract of C. grandis exerted benefcial efects against dyslipidemia, atherogenicity, and oxidative stress in alloxan induced diabetic rats. Te selected plant extracts would be benefcial for the development of food supplements targeting main complications associated with diabetes. 1. Introduction Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and predicted to afect over 500 million people by 2030. Indeed, it is a major cause of disability and hospitalization, posing a signifcant public health burden during the last two decades [1, 2]. Te chronic hyperglycemia of diabetes is associated with deleterious damage, dysfunction, and failure of various organs. Oxidative stress has been suggested as a main contrib- utory factor in the pathogenesis of diabetes and its vascular complications leading to neuropathy, retinopathy, nephropa- thy, cardiovascular disease, etc. [3]. In addition, diabetes is closely associated with dyslipidemia which is mediated through derangements in a variety of regulatory processes, especially in a state of insulin defciency, thereby render- ing diabetic patients more prone to hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia. Several studies have revealed the positive correlation between dyslipidemia and development of premature atherosclerosis, coronary insufciency, and myocardial infarction in diabetic subjects [4–7]. However, the occurrence of vascular complications in patients with dia- betes mellitus has not been met with a comparable expansion in therapeutic options [1]. Tus, efect of natural products in the management of diabetic complications has recently received considerable attention, highlighting the importance of medicinal plant extracts as regulators of metabolism of carbohydrate and lipids [8]. It is being appreciated that traditional systems of medicine can ofer some efective therapies from their trea- tise to be useful in diabetic complications. Te remarkable chemical diversity encompassed by the medicinal plant extracts continues to be of relevance to the discovery of new antidiabetic agents with fewer side efects [9]. A number of Hindawi Journal of Botany Volume 2018, Article ID 4204519, 8 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/4204519