Evaluation of hypoglycemic and antihyperglycemic effects of Datura metel (Linn.) seeds in normal and alloxan-induced diabetic rats

doi:10.1016/j.jep.2003.12.010

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

Volume 91, Issue 1, March 2004, Pages 95-98

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2003.12.010 Get rights and content

Abstract

The seed powder of Datura metel was tested for its hypoglycemic activity in normal and alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Graded doses (25, 50 and 75 mg/kg, p.o.) of the seed powder when given to both normal and diabetic rats produced significant reduction in blood glucose at the 8 h. The effect was found to be dose dependent with all treatments at the doses administered.

Introduction

The use of herbal medicines for the treatment of diabetes mellitus has gained importance throughout the world. The World Health Organization also recommended and encouraged this practice especially in countries where access to the conventional treatment of diabetes is not adequate (WHO, 1980). There is an increased demand to use natural products with antidiabetic activity due to the side effects associated with the use of insulin and oral hypoglycemic agents (Holman and Turner, 1991, Kameswara Rao et al., 1997). The available literature shows that there are more than 400 plant species showing hypoglycemic activity (Mukherjee, 1981, Oliver-Bever, 1986, Rai, 1995). Though some of these plants have great reputation in the indigenous system of medicine for their antidiabetic activities, many remain to be scientifically established.

The bark, leaves, and seeds of Datura metel are used in Ayurvedic medicine for the treatment of various ailments. The whole plant is considered as narcotic, anodyne and antispasmodic (Lindley, 1985). The seeds are considered to have a strong aphrodisiac effects. According to Ayurveda, seeds are acrid, bitter, tonic, febrifuge, anthelmintic, alexiteric, emetic and useful in leucoderma, skin disorders, ulcers, bronchitis, jaundice, piles and in diabetes (Agharkar, 1991). The leaves have been proved to relieve asthma and the powdered seeds were mixed with butter and administered internally for impotence (Lewis and Elvin-Lewis, 1977). The single oral administration of aqueous extract of seeds significantly decreased the RBC, WBC and hemoglobulin count (Rastogi and Mehrotra, 1998). So far no work has been reported on the hypoglycemic and antihyperglycemic effects of this plant. Hence the present study was aimed to determine the hypoglycemic and antidiabetic properties of Datura metel in normal and alloxan-induced diabetic rats.

Section snippets

Plant material

Fresh riped fruits of Datura metel were collected from our University campus and were dried in sunlight for 4 days to separate the seeds. The dried seeds were then milled to a fine powder. The authenticity of the sample was identified by Dr. M. Venkaiah, Botanist, Department of Botany, Andhra University and a voucher specimen (PH-9) were kept in the Department of Botany, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam.

Chemicals used

Gliclazide was a generous gift sample from Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Hyderabad and alloxan

Effect of Datura metel seed powder on normoglycemic rats

The mean blood glucose concentration of control and drug-treated animals (after oral administration of different doses of Datura metel seed powder) at various time intervals are shown in Fig. 1. A dose-dependent hypoglycemia was observed in animals treated with Datura metel seed powder. To determine whether there was a statistically significant difference in hypoglycemia achieved by the three doses (25, 50 and 75 mg/kg, p.o.) at 8 h, Student’s t-test (Lewis, 1971) was applied and compared with

Discussion and conclusions

Diabetes mellitus is possibly the world’s largest growing metabolic disease, and as the knowledge on the heterogeneity of this disorder is advanced, the need for more appropriate therapy increases (Baily and Flatt, 1986). Traditional plant medicines are used throughout the world for a range of diabetic presentations. The study of such medicines might offer a natural key to unlock a diabetologist’s pharmacy for the future.

In the light of the literature on Datura metel, we made an attempt for the

References (17)

Agharkar, S.P., 1991. Medicinal Plants of Bombay Presidency. Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur, pp....
C.J Baily et al.
Antidiabetic drugs, new developments
Indian Biotechnology
(1986)
G.M Grodsky et al.
Pancreatic action of sulphonylureas
Federation Proceedings
(1971)
Holman, R.R., Turner, R.C., 1991. Oral agents and insulin in the treatment of NIDDM. In: Pickup, S., Williams, G....
B Kameswara Rao et al.
Herbal medicine in the management of diabetes mellitus
Manphar Vaidhya Patrika
(1997)
Lewis, A.E., 1971. Biostatistics. Affliated East-West Press, New Delhi, pp....
Lewis, W.H., Elvin-Lewis, M.P.F., 1977. Medical botany plants effecting man’s health. John Wiley and Sons. New York,...
Lindley, J., 1985. Flora Medica. Ajay Book Service, New...

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (67)

Traditionally used anti-diabetic plants in Kathua district of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India
2024, Journal of Ethnopharmacology
A toxic shrub turned therapeutic: The dichotomy of Nerium oleander bioactivities
2023, Toxicon
Nerium oleander L. is a medicinal plant, used for the treatment of cancers and hyperglycemia across the world, especially in Indian sub-continent, Turkey, Morocco, and China. Although clinical studies supporting its pharmacological effects remain critically underexplored, accidental and intentional consumption of any part of the plant causes fatal toxicity in animals and humans. While the polyphenolic fraction of oleander leaves has been attributed to its pre-clinical pharmacological activities, the presence of diverse cardiac glycosides (especially oleandrin) causes apoptosis to cancer cells in vitro and results in clinical signs of oleander poisoning. Thus, the dual pharmacological and toxicological role of oleander is a perplexing dichotomy in phytotherapy. The current investigative review, therefore, intended to analyze the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that likely contribute to this conundrum. Especially by focusing on gut microbial diversity, abundance, and metabolic functions, oleander-associated pharmacological and toxicological studies have been critically analyzed to define the dual effects of oleander. Electronic databases were extensively screened for relevant research articles (including pre-clinical and clinical) related to oleander bioactivities and toxicity. Taxonomic preference was given to the plant N. oleander L. and synonymous plants as per ‘The World Flora Online’ database (WCSP record #135196). Discussion on yellow oleander (Cascabela thevetia (L.) Lippold) has intentionally been avoided since it is a different plant. The review indicates that the gut microbiota likely plays a key role in differentially modulating the pharmacological and toxicological effects of oleander. Other factors identified influencing the oleander bioactivities include dose and mode of treatment, cardiac glycoside pharmacokinetics, host-endogenous glycosides, plant material processing and phytochemical extraction methods, plant genotypic variations, environmental effects on the phytochemical quality and quantity, gene expression variations, host dietary patterns and co-morbidity, etc. The arguments proposed are also relevant to other medicinal plants containing toxic cardiac glycosides.
Ethnobotanical uses and phytochemical, biological, and toxicological profiles of Datura metel L.: A review
2023, Current Research in Toxicology
Datura metel L., a recognized poisonous plant in the Solanaceae family, is widely distributed in the world. Traditionally, D. metel is used in many diseases, including neurological and heart diseases; fever; catarrh; pain; diarrhea; skin diseases; chronic bronchitis; asthma; digestive disorders; and so on. It possesses many important phytochemicals that can be used to treat various types of diseases. This review aims at summarizing the traditional uses, phytochemical, biological, and toxicological profiles of D. metel based on the database reports. For this, an up-to-date (till March 20, 2023) search was made in the databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Scopus, and MedLine, with relevant keywords for the published evidence. Findings suggest that the plant has many traditional uses, such as a cure for madness, epilepsy, psoriasis, heart diseases, diarrhea, mad dog bites, indigestion, etc. It possesses various important phytochemicals, including withanolides, daturaolone, datumetine, daturglycosides, ophiobolin A, baimantuoluoline A, and many others. D. metel has many important biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, insecticidal, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, analgesic, anti-pyretic, neurological, contraceptive, and wound healing capacity. In conclusion, the toxic plant, D. metel, can be considered a potential source of phyto-therapeutic lead compounds.
The genus Datura L. (Solanaceae): A systematic review of botany, traditional use, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and toxicology
2022, Phytochemistry
Citation Excerpt :
Pseudomonas auriginosa, Bacillus cereus, and Staphylococcus aureus were inhibited at a higher concentration, with MIC value of 25000 μg/mL. The hypoglycemic and antihyperglycemic effects of D. metel seed were found in normal and alloxan-induced diabetic rats, after 8 h of administration in a dose dependent manner (25, 50, and 75 mg/kg) (Krishna Murthy et al., 2004). The antidiabetic effect of hydromethanolic extract of D. stramonium seed was reported by Melaku and Amare.
The genus Datura has been used as an important traditional medicine in China, as well as in other countries worldwide. This review summarizes the latest progress and perspective of the genus Datura, from the aspects of botany, traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and toxicology. Up to May 2022, literatures were collected from online scientific databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, SciFinder, CNKI, ACS, and Web of Science, and information was also obtained from “Flora Republicae Populairs Sinicae”, Chinese Pharmacopoeia, Chinese herbal classic books, and Ph.D. and M. Sc. dissertations. Studies on chemical constituents, pharmacological activities, and toxicity are mainly focused on D. metel, D. stramonium, and D. inoxia. Furthermore, 496 compounds have been discovered from the genus Datura, including withanolides, alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, phenylpropanoids, steroids, amino acids, aromatics, and aliphatics. Among them, withanolides and alkaloids are two main active constituents. Pharmacological activities of extracts and compounds have been studied from the aspects of antitumor, antiinflammation, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antispasmodic, anticoagulant, analgesic, hypoglycemic and xanthine oxidase inhibitory activities, as well as the effects on central nervous system and immune system. Modern pharmacological studies have provided more clues to elucidate the traditional usages. The toxicity of the genus Datura is noteworthy, especially the potential toxicity on organs. This review would provide a comprehensive and constructive overview for new drug development and utilization of the genus Datura.
Therapeutic and pharmacological efficacy of selective Indian medicinal plants – A review
2021, Phytomedicine Plus
Globally, traditional herbal medicines have played a vital role in health systems, and are used to treat various acute and chronic conditions without or minimal toxic effect. Herbal plants are often used as a natural remedy to cure various health problems including tuberculosis, cancer, diabetes mellitus, heart diseases, wound healing, asthma, pharyngitis, hypertension etc. Plants rich in bioactive phytomedicine compounds such as alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins and polyphenols have been used to cure illnesses because of their various pharmacological properties. India is always known to be rich depository of medicinal plants and various forms of herbal medicine practices are considered as “living tradition”. However, there is no collective report on the significant Indian medicinal plants and their current progress in medicinal plant research. Hence, the prime focus of this review is to identify and report the majorly used Indian medicinal plants that have grown in India and neighboring countries based on a complete research survey of local and international research articles. The review mainly summarizes the prominent Indian medicinal plants, their extract and its corresponding pharmacological properties such as anti-microbial, antioxidant, anti-diabetic, and anti-cancer etc. The significance of this review is aimed to provide a detailed and collective scientific evaluation of the key phytocompounds and its pharmacological action for the possible development of new ethnomedicine in the future.
Effects of datumetine on hippocampal NMDAR activity
2021, Toxicology Reports
Citation Excerpt :
Datura plant has been reported to possess other compounds aside the major alkaloid that has been previously identified [25–33]. Recent studies have reported other biological effects of the plant which has not been attributed to any specific compound in the plant [6,34]. Since recreative users of the plant experience amnesic-like behaviour during its intoxication process, the study hypothesizes that the plant may contain compounds that affect hippocampal functioning.
The usage (abuse) of Datura metel is becoming increasingly worrisome among the Nigerian populace especially among the youth considering its side effects such as hallucination. This work was designed to identify the phytochemicals in datura plant that potentially interact with NMDAR as it affects the electrical and memory activities of the brain.
Ligand-protein interaction was assessed using autodock vina to identify phytochemicals that can interact with NMDAR. Datumetine was found to have the best interaction fit with NMDAR at both allosteric and orthosteric binding sites. Furthermore, using electrophysiological, behavioural and western blotting techniques, it was observed that the administration of datumetine positively modulates the NMDAR current by prolonging burst duration and interspike interval, induces seizures in C57BL/6 mice. Acute exposure leads to memory deficit on NOR and Y-maze test while immunoblotting results showed increased expression of GluN1 and CamKIIα while pCamKIIα-T286, CREB and BDNF were downregulated. The results showed that the memory deficit seen in datura intoxication is possibly the effects of datumetine on NMDAR.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

Evaluation of hypoglycemic and antihyperglycemic effects of Datura metel (Linn.) seeds in normal and alloxan-induced diabetic rats

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Plant material

Chemicals used

Effect of Datura metel seed powder on normoglycemic rats

Discussion and conclusions

Antidiabetic drugs, new developments

Indian Biotechnology

Pancreatic action of sulphonylureas

Federation Proceedings

Herbal medicine in the management of diabetes mellitus

Manphar Vaidhya Patrika