Acacia Nilotica Leave Extract and Glyburide: Comparison of Fasting Blood Glucose, Serum Insulin, β-Thromboglubulin Levels and Platelet Aggregation in Streptozotocin Induced Diabetic Rats

Objectives: To evaluate the hypoglycaemic and anti-platelet aggregation effect of aqueous methanol extract of Acacia Nilotica (AN) leaves compared with glyburide on streptozotocin induced diabetic rats.Methods: Diabetes mellitus was induced in 90 out of 120 albino rats by administering 50 mg/kg body weight (b.w) streptozotocin and was confirmed by measuring fasting blood glucose level 200 mg/dL on 4th post-induction day.The rats were equally divided into 4 groups, A (normal control), B (diabetic control), C (diabetic rats treated with AN extract) and group D (diabetic rats treated with glyburide). The rats of group C and D were given 300 mg/kg b.w AN extract and 900 ?gm/kg b.w glyburide respectively for 3 weeks. Blood glucose was measured by glucometer, platelet aggregation by Dia-Med method and insulin and β-thromboglobulin by ELISA technique.Results: A significant increase (p 0.05) in fasting blood glucose, β-thromboglobulin and platelet aggregation and a significant decrease (p 0.05) in insulin levels was observed in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats than the normal controls. The rats treated with AN extract and glyburide showed a significant decrease (p 0.05) in fasting blood glucose and increase (p 0.05) in insulin levels than the diabetic control rats. However, the levels in both the treatment groups remained significantly different than the normal controls. A significant decrease (p 0.05) in β-thromboglobulin levels was seen in diabetic rats treated with glyburide than the diabetic control rats and diabetic rats treated with AN extract.Conclusions: AN leaves extract result into hypoglycaemic and anti-platelet aggregation activity in diabetic rats as that of glyburide.