A REVIEW ON HERBAL DRUGS WITH ANTIDIABETIC ACTIVITY

K. Kavitha*, P. Meena Prabha and B. Sangameswaran

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is very common metabolic disorder affecting people of all age groups. The change in life style and environmental factors are the considerable factors which are involved in the development of the disorder. The different parts of medicinal plants vary in their composition of bioactive compounds. Traditionally bud of C.auriculata L. is used to treat diabetes rather than flower. The compounds present in the bud and flower parts were identified using LC-ESI/MS analysis. Among the herbal medicines used stands out cinnamon, which can serve as an adjuvant in the control of diabetes. Cinnamon is one medicinal universal plant which has been used daily by people all over the world, which has the probable to decrease the growth of diabetes and its problem. Although almost all the animal models have indicated a pronounced anti-diabetic activity of both cinnamon species, conflicting results were observed with regard to the few clinical trials available. Syzygium cumini (Myrtaceae) is widely used traditional system of medicine to treat diabetes in India. The present study was carried out to isolate and identify the putative antidiabetic compound from the S.cumini [SC] seed. A compound, mycaminose was isolated from SC seed extract. S.cumini seed (200 and 400 mg/kg) was undertaken to evaluate the anti-diabetic activity against streptozotocin (STZ)- induced diabetic rates. The hot water (0.8 g/kg b.w.) and ethanol extracts (2 g/kg b.w.) of A. paniculata reduced the elevated glucose level by 41.51 and 41.82%, respectively in glucose-loaded rats as compared to the respective diabetic control rats.