AUTHOR=Satyanarayana Namani , Chinni Suresh V. , Gobinath Ramachawolran , Sunitha Paripelli , Uma Sankar Akula , Muthuvenkatachalam Bala Sundaram 

TITLE=Antidiabetic activity of Solanum torvum fruit extract in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.987552

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2022.987552

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p><italic>Solanum torvum</italic> Swartz, a medicinal plant belonging to the family Solanaceae, is an important medicinal plant widely distributed throughout the world and used as medicine to treat diabetes, hypertension, tooth decay, and reproductive problems in traditional systems of medicine around the world including Malaysia. The objective of this study was to investigate hypoglycemic, antilipidemic, and hepatoprotective activities, histopathology of the pancreas, and specific glucose regulating gene expression of the ethanolic extract of <italic>S. torvum</italic> fruit in streptozotocin-induced diabetic Sprague–Dawley rats.</p></sec><sec><title>Materials and methods</title><p>Acute toxicity study was done according to OECD-423 guidelines. Diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of streptozotocin (55 mg/kg) in male Sprague–Dawley rats. Experimental diabetic rats were divided into six different groups; normal, diabetic control, and glibenclamide at 6 mg/kg body weight, and the other three groups of animals were treated with oral administration of ethanolic extract of <italic>S. torvum</italic> fruit at 120, 160, and 200 mg/kg for 28 days. The effect of ethanolic extract of <italic>S. torvum</italic> fruit on body weight, blood glucose, lipid profile, liver enzymes, histopathology of pancreas, and gene expression of glucose transporter 2 (slc2a2), and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PCK1) was determined by RT-PCR.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Acute toxicity studies showed LD<sub>50</sub> of ethanolic extract of <italic>S. torvum</italic> fruit to be at the dose of 1600 mg/kg body weight. Blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoproteins, very low-density lipoproteins, serum alanine aminotransferase, and aspartate aminotransferase were significantly reduced, whereas high-density lipoproteins were significantly increased in <italic>S. torvum</italic> fruit (200 mg/kg)-treated rats. Histopathological study of the pancreas showed an increase in number, size, and regeneration of β-cell of islets of Langerhans. Gene expression studies revealed the lower expression of <italic>slc2a2</italic> and <italic>PCK1</italic> in treated animals when compared to diabetic control.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Ethanolic extract of <italic>S. torvum</italic> fruits showed hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, and hepatoprotective activity in streptozocin-induced diabetic rats. Histopathological studies revealed regeneration of β cells of islets of Langerhans. Gene expression studies indicated lower expression of <italic>slc2a2</italic> and <italic>PCK1</italic> in treated animals when compared to diabetic control, indicating that the treated animals prefer the gluconeogenesis pathway.</p></sec>