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Effect of a Thai herbal formulation on blood glucose levels in rats

Chaiyong Rujjanawate, Chusri Lerdpadungchai

School of Health Science, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiangrai 57100, Thailand.

Rationale: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a degenerative disease that causes a considerable loss in terms of
health and economics. Control of blood sugar levels in diabetic patients can be done through caloric restriction,

exercise and drugs. Many medicinal herbs are claimed to be anti-diabetic potential. Very often, these herbs are
combined together as an anti-diabetic formulation. Even though some of them have been scientifically proved,
the summative effect of the whole recipe has not been evaluated.

Objective: To evaluate the hypoglycemic effect of a Thai herbal drug formulation used to treat diabetes
mellitus in experimental rats.
Methodology: The anti-diabetic ethanolic extract (ADE) was prepared from the herbal formulation which

consists of 26 medicinal plants. The ADE at doses of 100 and 200 mg / kg and tolbutamide (a standard drug) at
22.5 mg / kg were given to glucose-loaded rats (N=6). The blood glucose levels before, 30, 60 and 120 minutes
after the glucose load were measured and compared to those of the control group. Another set of the experi-

ment was done in the similar manner using alloxan-diabetic rats (N=6) and the dose of the ADE was 200 mg /
kg only.

Results: In normal rats, after glucose load, the blood glucose dramatically increased and reached its peak
within 60 minutes. The rise of blood glucose level was markedly decreased in tolbutamide treated group and
this difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). ADE at doses of 100 and 200 mg / g showed a hypoglycemic

effect in a dose-dependent manner and statistically significant at 60 minutes after the glucose load In severe
diabetic rats, both tolbutamide and ADE (200 mg / kg), the rise of blood glucose levels were also lowered from

the baselines, but not statistically significant.
Conclusion: The Thai herbal formulation used to treat diabetes mellitus could lower the blood glucose
levels in glucose-loaded rats. This effect was not observed in severe diabetic rats. The result of this study

therefore is not adequate to support the application of the formulation clinically.