Evaluation of antidiabetic and antioxidant activity of aerial parts of Hyptis suaveolens Poit.

Hyptis suaveolens Poit. (Lamiaceae) commonly called curry leaf and savanna plant which is abundantly found in farmlands. Traditionally, the plant is used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, fever, eczema, cancers and headache. The present study was aimed to investigate the in vitro antioxidant and anti-diabetic potential of aerial parts of H. suaveolens Poit at dose levels of 250 and 500 mg/kg, in acute normoglycemic and alloxan induced hyperglycemic rats including oral glucose tolerance and chronic study (11 days), keeping glibenclamide (5 mg/kg) as standard drug. The body weight measurement and selective serum biochemical estimation (blood glucose concentration, ALT, AST, ALP, urea, creatinine, triglyceride, and cholesterol) were undertaken in 11 days treated hyperglycemic rats. The test result revealed that in normoglycemic rats, the decrease in blood glucose level lies between 4 to 15% in extract treated groups, while the hyperglycaemic rats showed a significant (p<0.05 to 0.001)  fall of blood sugar level in a progressive manner and similar findings also observed in glucose tolerance test to an extent of p<0.05. The results of body weight and tested biochemical parameters of blood serum of the 11-days treated animals showed in favor of the anti diabetic activity of the test extracts. In DPPH scavenging anti-oxidant assay, the IC50 value of the test extracts were found as 30.06 and 28.76 μg/ml while the IC50 value of ascorbic acid was 20.92 μg/ml. This study suggests that the aerial part of H. suaveolens is endowed with antidiabetic and antioxidant potential.   Key words:  Antidiabetic activity, in vitro antioxidant, Hyptis suaveolens, alloxan.