Victor Eshu Okpashi*, Lucy Ifeoma Ofoelo, Nwodo OFC and Adaora N
Diabetes mellitus is a challenging disease; its health damage on human population is increase globally. The need for remedy of diabetes is progressively pursued by professionals. The adverse effect of synthetic drugs such as metformin and glibenclamide are becoming a source of concern. This paves way for herbal therapy with no or minimal site effect to control and treat diabetes mellitus. This research evaluates the effect of Irvingia gabonesis seeds extract on some lipid profile indices of wistar albino rats. Glibenclamide was used as a control standard drug. A 200 mg/kg of alloxan was used to induce diabetes on rats after fasting. The median lethal dose was ascertained at 5000 mg/kg of the extract, with no indication of toxicity. Upon induction of alloxan, fasting blood glucose was significantly (p<0.05) high, which indicates defectiveness of insulin or damage pancreatic beta cells. The control group treated with Glibenclamide had low blood sugar level, compared to diabetic rats. Total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein levels treated with 100 mg/kg of the extract was significantly (p<0.05) lower than the group treated with 200 mg/kg. Triacylglycerol concentration was significantly (p<0.05) lower in rat treated with 200 mg/kg of the extracts than rats treated with 100 mg/kg of the extract, compared to the normal control. High density lipoprotein (HDL) of the treated rats was significantly (p<0.05) higher compared to the control diabetic rats. The lipid peroxidation index reduced significantly (p<0.05) in treated groups compared to the control group and extracts treated groups relative to the diabetic untreated rats (control). Findings suggests that Irvingia gabonesis seeds extracts is considerably safe and potential therapy for management and control of type 2 diabetes mellitus, due to its ability to lower blood glucose level and ameliorate the effect on lipid profile.
