Hypoglycemic Effect of Alcoholic Extract of Salvia nemorosa in Normal and Diabetic Male Rats

The use of medicinal plants has increased greatly mainly due to their easy availability, fewer side effects and lack of toxicity. The present study was carried out to investigate the antidiabetic effect of the extract of aerial parts of salvia nemorosa in normal and streptozotocin- induced diabetic male rats.

After collection and taxonomic identification of plant, the ethanolic extract of Salvia nemorosa was prepared by the soxhlet apparatus. The animals were made diabetic by using 70 mg/kg streptozotocin injected intraperitoneally. The plant extract was administrated orally in doses of 0.01, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 g/kg to the normal and diabetic rats for 14 days. Two groups of normal and diabetic rats, which served as sham group, were administered distilled water. Blood samples were obtained from the hearts of all experimental animals after 14 days. Serum glucose and insulin were measured by glucose oxidase and radio immunoassay methods, respectively.

Oral administration of the alcoholic extract of Salvia nemorosa significantly decreased serumic glucose (p<0.001) and increased serumic insulin levels (p<0.01) in rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes, but not in healthy rats. Furthermore, it increased weight in diabetic rats (p<0.01).

The present data indicate that extract of Salvia nemorosa has hypoglycemic effect in diabetic rats. This plant should be considered as a therapeutic option in future experimental researches for the management of Diabetes Mellitus in human.