Purpose: To investigate the effect of C. gileadensis on blood glucose levels and lipid profiles in diabetic mice. Methods: A total of 60 male mice were divided randomly into 6 groups of 10 each. Type 2 diabetes was induced with streptozotocin (55 mg/kg body weight) intraperitoneally. The experiment consisted of six groups: negative control, diabetic non-treated, and diabetic groups treated with 200 mg/kg body weight per day of sap, methanolic, and acetone extracts of C. gileadensis orally for 4 months. Furthermore, the sixth group was diabetic mice treated with 55 mg/kg of metformin daily by intragastric gavage for 4 months. After 4 months of treatment, blood samples were collected from the retro-orbital venous plexus in non-heparinized tubes from all mice and random blood glucose levels, lipid profile, and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) were evaluated. Results: The random blood glucose levels, triglyceride, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels were significantly (p < 0.0001) reduced in diabetic mice treated with C. gileadensis sap, a methanolic extract of C. gileadensis, and an acetone extract of C. gileadensis compared with non-treated diabetic group. Moreover, diabetic mice treated with C. gileadensis sap had significantly (p < 0.01) lower total cholesterol and LDL compared with those treated with metformin. Diabetic mice treated with C. gileadensis sap, methanol, and acetone extract had significantly (p < 0.0001) higher HDL levels compared to untreated diabetic group. However, C. gileadensis sap significantly increased HDL in diabetic mice compared to metformin (p < 0.01). Conclusion: The sap, methanolic and acetone extracts of C. gileadensis normalize random blood glucose, HbA1c, and lipid profiles in diabetic mice. The sap of C. gileadensis exhibits greater efficacy compared to other extracts and metformin in reducing random blood glucose levels and improving lipid profiles.
Alhazmi et al. (Fri,) studied this question.