Revista de Bioprocessamento e Biotécnicas

Hypoglycemic Effect of the Ethyl-Acetate and Butanol Fractions of Mallotus oppostifollous in Mice

Abstract

Ifeanyi Peter Onyeka*, Valentine Onyeka Nwankwo, Omoirri Moses Aziokpono, Charity C Ezea, Chioma Ifeoma Ibe, Nnamdi Markben Adione, Gabriel Okwudili Ogbuozobe, Ebere Ifejirika Ezeonyi and Chioma Vivian Anidi

A Background: Mallotus oppostifollous is a shrub that has historically been used to cure various ailments including infections, wounds, inflammations, and illnesses linked to oxidative stress in places they occur like South East Nigeria. In the present study the ethyl-acetate and butanol fractions of Mallotus oppostifollous was evaluated for the hypoglycemic and ant hyperglycemic effect using mice.

Methods: The dried powdered leaf of M. oppositifolius was extracted by cold maceration using absolute methanol, filtered and dried using rotary evaporator. The dried extract was partitioned into n-hexane, Ethyl Acetate (EAF), Butanol (BF), and Water Fraction (WF) using standard laboratory procedure. Hyperglycemia was induced by intraperitoneal injection of alloxan monohydrate (120 mg/kg) and the animals were observed for hyperglycemia. A total of 42 hyperglycemic mice with were randomized into 7 experimental groups of six animals per group as follows; group 1 (untreated control), group 2 (hyperglycemic control), group 3 the positive control (metformin, 500 mg/kg) while groups 4 to 7 were administered 250 and 500 mg/kg doses of EAF and BF respectively.

Results: The results showed that the ethyl acetate and butanol fractions contained glycosides, saponins, alkaloids, flavonoids, and tannins. The findings further showed that mice treated with ethyl-acetate and butanol fractions of Mallotus oppostifollous had significant reduction (P<0.05) in fasting blood glucose levels within 10 hours of acute treatment and further showed significant reduction (P<0.05) in fasting blood glucose levels 14 days long term treatment when compared with the hyperglycemic control.

Conclusion: We, therefore, conclude that the hypoglycemic potency of the fractions was greater in the ethyl-acetate fraction than the butanol fraction. Also, the histopathological result showed that mice treated with ethyl-acetate fraction had rejuvenated pancreatic β-cells islets and therefore suggested that ethyl-acetate fraction could contain compounds with known antidiabetic activity. Therefore, we recommend that further study should be carried out to isolate and characterize the compounds in the ethyl-acetate fraction responsible for the active hypoglycemic activity.