Adejoke Y Onaolapo¹, Olakunle J Onaolapo², Stephen A Adewole³

¹Department of Human Anatomy, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo state, Nigeria; ²Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo state, Nigeria; ³Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile –Ife, Osun State , Nigeria

Background: The present study was undertaken to investigate the effects of ethanolic extracts of Ocimum gratissimum leaves on blood glucose and weight parameters in streptozotocin induced diabetic Wistar rats.

Aim: The aim was to provide information on the glucose lowering potentials of ethanolic extract of Ocimum gratissimum and also compare this effect with that seen following administration of metformin.

Material and Methods: Thirty adult male rats aged between 6- 8 months weighing between 180 and 200 g were randomly divided into five groups (A, B, C, D and E) of six rats each. Group A was the control, group B received oral Metformin at 25 mg/kg, while animals in group C, D and E received Ocimum gratissimum at 400, 600 and 800 mg kg-1 body weight orally, treatment period was for 28 days. Fasting blood glucose and weight were measured weekly throughout the treatment period. Statistical analysis was carried out using a one way ANOVA followed by the Student-Newman-Keul’s test.

Results: Results showed that ethanolic extract of Ocimum gratissimum reduced blood glucose levels and body weight significantly all through the treatment period, that these effects were more rapid with increasing doses of the extract, and the glucose lowering potential of Ocimum gratissimum was comparable to that seen following administration of metformin.

Conclusion: In conclusion, this study showed that ethanolic extract of Ocimum gratissimum has a more potent antihyperglycaemic effect than metformin at the doses studied, however, the mechanism(s) by which it does this is not yet established, we hope to do this in our subsequent studies.

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Citation: Onaolapo AY, Onaolapo OJ, Adewole SA. Ethanolic Extract of Ocimum Grattissimum Leaves (Linn.) Rapidly Lowers Blood Glucose Levels in Diabetic Wistar Rats. Maced J Med Sci. 2011 Dec 15; 4(4):351-357. http://dx.doi.org/10.3889/MJMS.1957-5773.2011.0172.
Key words: Ocimum gratissimum; Streptozotocin; Diabetes Mellitus.
Correspondence: Adejoke Y. Onaolapo. Department of Human Anatomy, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo state, Nigeria. Phone: 2348062240434. E-mail: olakunleonaolapo@yahoo.co.uk, adegbayibiy@yahoo.com.
Received: 25-Mar-2011; Revised: 30-Apr-2011; Accepted: 09-May-2011; Online first: 06-Oct-2011
Copyright: © 2011 Onaolapo AY. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
 

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