EFFECTS OF VERNONIA AMYGDALINA AND CHLORPROPAMIDE ON BLOOD GLUCOSE

Despite significant achievements in treatment modalities and preventive measures, the prevalence of diabetes has risen exponentially in the last decade. Because of these limitations there is a continued need for new and more effective therapies. An increasing number of people are using dietary and herbal supplements, even though there is a general lack of evidence for their safety and efficacy. Consequently, science-based medical and governmental reg- ulations are needed for more randomized clinical studies to provide evidence of efficacy and safety. The aim of this study was therefore to subject one such promising Vernonia amygdalina (VA), to agents to further investigate the potential function of VA for treatment of diabetes mellitus as potentially emerging alternative therapy for type 2 diabetes. Sixty adult male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 180-220g were used for the experiment. Half of the animals were randomly rendered diabetic by administering alloxan (150 mg/kg). Equal numbers (20) of the rats were variously administered aqueous leaf extract of VA (500 mg/kg), chlorpropamide (250 mg/kg) and distilled water (2 ml/kg). Aqueous leaf extract of VA produced significant (p 0.05-0.001), reductions in the blood glucose concentrations of normal (normoglycemic) and diabetic (hyperglycemic) rats 1 to 12 hours after acute treatment compared with dis- tilled water-treated control animals. Its blood-glucose-lowering potential in both normoglycemic and alloxan-induced diabetic male Sprague-Dawley rats compared favourably to that of chlorpropamide. Administration of the aqueous extract of VA at a concentration of 500 mg/kg of body weight significantly decreased the levels of blood glucose. The hypoglycemic efficacy was comparable with that of chlorpropamide, a standard hypo- glycemic drug.