A water extract of the Oriental crude drug “yokui-nin” (coix seeds), Coix lachryma-jobi var, ma-yuen seeds, disclosed a marked hypoglycemic action when administered to mice. Fractionation of the extract, by monitoring the pharmacological activity, led to isolation of three glycans, coixans A, B and C. These components elicited remarkable hypoglycemic effects in normal and hyperglycemic mice treated with alloxan.
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Takahashi et al. (1986) studied this question.