Synergistic Anti-diabetic Activity of Gongronema latifolium and Telfairia occidentalis Leaves Extracts on Hepatic Function and Hematological Indices in Wistar Rats

Background and Objective: Persistent hyperglycaemia in diabetes mellitus (DM) could result to compromised hepatic function.Telfairia occidentalis (TEL) and Gongronema latifolium (GON) have both demonstrated glucose lowering potentials in previous investigations due to a rich mix of bioactive compounds in the plants.This study investigated the synergistic antidiabetic and hepatoprotective potentials of TEL and GON in diabetic rats.Materials and Methods: Six groups of animals were studied; normal control (NC), diabetic control (DC), metformin control (MET), TEL and GON groups, single and combine (n = 7).NC and DC received placebo treatments, other treatment groups were given 500 mg kgG 1 b.wt.doses of the extracts and MET for 21 days.The rats were sacrificed, blood and liver tissues collected for hepatic enzymes, haematological and histo-pathological evaluation.Results: Transferases (aspartate-AST and alanine-ALT), gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) increased in DC rats compared to NC (p<0.05).Treatment significantly decreased (p<0.05) the enzyme concentrations in TEL/GON treatment commensurate to standard MET.Haematological indices, white blood cells count (WBC) and its differentials lymphocytes (LYM) and monocytes (MON) were significantly increased (p<0.05) in DC compared to NC. Red blood cells (RBC) and platelets concentrations which decreased in DC were significantly increased (p<0.05) in all treatments and compared significantly to MET.Histo-pathological evaluation of the liver showed significant regeneration across all treatments with more pronounced effect in TEL/GON group.Conclusion: These findings reaffirmed the hypoglycaemic potentials of TEL and GON, suggesting these plants in synergism may potentiate a better hepatoprotective and increased antidiabetic activity.