Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Aqueous Bark Extract of Cinnamomum Zeylanicum: A Potential Therapeutic Agent for Streptozotocin-Induced Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) Rats

Syed A Hassan¹ , Ritu Barthwal², Maya S Nair², Syed S Haque³

¹Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad Campus, Hyderabad; ²Molecular Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee; ³Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, India.

For correspondence:- Syed Hassan Email: asifsrmcbt@yahoo.com Tel:+919031737458

Received: 31 August 2011 Accepted: 23 April 2012 Published: 15 June 2012

Citation: Hassan SA, Barthwal R, Nair MS, Haque SS. Aqueous Bark Extract of Cinnamomum Zeylanicum: A Potential Therapeutic Agent for Streptozotocin-Induced Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) Rats. Trop J Pharm Res 2012; 11(3):429-435 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v11i3.12

© 2012 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the anti-diabetic, hepatoprotective and lipid homeostatic activity of Cinnamomum zeylanicum aqueous bark extract on streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type-I diabetic rats.

Methods: The animals were divided into three groups (n = 6). of normal rats; streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats; and diabetic rats treated with 200 mg/kg of the aqueous bark extract, respectively. Treatment was via the oral route for 15 days. Various biochemical parameters, including lipid pro@257;le and glycogen biosynthesis were analysed. Similarly, differential regulation and expression of glucose homeostatic enzymes were evaluated in order to validate the anti-diabetic activity of the extract.

Results: Total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), LDL-cholesterol (LDL) and VLDL-cholesterol (VLDL) levels decreased significantly (p < 0.05) in the diabetic animals by 12.5, 23.86, 14.96 and 20 %, respectively, compared to their initial values. The extract increased HDL-cholesterol (HDL) and tissue glycogen levels by 25.0 and 172.3 %, respectively, in diabetic rats. Similarly, differential regulation and expression of glucose homeostatic enzymes, namely, glucokinase (GK), glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase), phosphoenol pyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PDH) and Insulin II (Ins II), showed significant improvement upon extract treatment in STZ-induced diabetic rats.

Conclusion: These results demonstrate the anti-diabetic, and hypolipidemic activities of Cinnamomum zeylanicum aqueous bark extract in diabetic rats.

Keywords: Streptozotocin, Type 1 diabetes mellitus, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Glucose homeostasis, Hypoglycemia, Lipid homeostasis