Abstract

IN-VIVO ANTIDIABETIC ACTIVITY OF FICUS POLITA BARK EXTRACTS

Zannah Zakariya Goni* and Maikudi Musa Idriss

Abstract

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is one of the major causes of premature death worldwide, is a serious health problem being the third greatest cause of death all over the world, and if not treated, it is responsible for many complications affecting various organs in the body. This study investigated the bark of the plant Ficus polita, its acute toxicity test and in-vivo hypoglycemic activity. The Ficus polita bark were collected, shade-dried and pounded to fine homogenous powder for maceration with 100% Ethanol, 500g of the powder yielded 34g (6.8%) crude extract, while 20g was macerated into fractions using n- Hexane, Chloroform, Ethyl acetate, and Methanol gave 5.6%, 3.3%, 15.1%, and 14.1% yield respectively. The acute toxicity test shows that the Ficus polita bark extract is safe to consume. In the first phase the crude ethanol extract FP1 (400mg/kg) and FP2 (600mg/kg) shows higher activity than the drug Glibenclamide (5mg/kg) on Alloxan-Induced diabetic rats within 7 days with significant changes at day 4 and day 7. In the second phase the crude ethanol extract of the plant bark was compared with n-Hexane, Chloroform, Ethyl acetate, and Methanol fractions, all extracts demonstrated a remarkable hypoglycemic activity at 150mg/kg on Alloxan-Induced diabetic rats within five hours of administration; Crude ethanol extract (315±46 - 249±5), n-Hexane (256±50 - 220±49), Chloroform (300±45 - 135±42), Ethyl acetate (245±38 - 174±38), Methanol (396±26 - 40±1), with Methanolic fraction showing the highest hypoglycemic activity. These confirmed the significance of the plant in treatment of diabetes mellitus and effective use of the methanol extract could lead to the cure of the diabetic problems around the world.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Ficus polita, In-vivo, Antidiabetic, Bark extracts.