Antidiabetic and Antioxidant Potential of Vernonia amygdalina Leaf Extract in Alloxan-Induced Sprague-Dawley Rats

Abstract

The treatment of diabetes mellitus using drug medications have side effects such as weight gain, hypoglycemia, the risk of cardiovascular or all-cause mortality. These limitations have become one reason to use complementary therapy from plant extract, such as Vernonia amygdalina as an antidiabetes. This research aimed to investigate the effect of V. amygdalina leaf extracts as antidiabetic and antioxidant agents by measuring the fasting Blood Glucose Levels (BGLs), IC₅₀ value and the profiles of phytochemical constituents using LC-MS analysis. We used 24 Sprague-Dawley rats (200-300 g) divided into six groups: normal group, positive control group and negative control group. The other three groups were leaf extract groups in different doses: 200, 400 and 600 mg/kg BW dose of leaf extract groups, respectively. The antidiabetic effects were tested based on BGLs were observed for 16 days and examined on day 4, 8, 12 and 16. The rat renal histological changes were observed under an electron microscope using Hematoxylin Eosin (HE) dye. V. amygdalina leaf extract showed an effect in reducing BGL on diabetic rats with an effective dose of 200 mg/kg. Renal histopathology result showed necrosis on proximal tubules in all treatment except the normal group. In conclusion, the administration of V. amygdalina leaf extract can reduce BGL. However, it did not show any improvement in the histopathological structure of the kidney.