Antidiabetic agents of Plant origin
3.1 Medicinal plants used to treat diabetes
Plants have always been very good sources of drugs and many of the currently available drugs have been derived directly or indirectly from them. The ethnobotanical information suggests that about 800 plants may possess anti-diabetic potential, among all of them Momordica charantia, Pterocarpus marsupium, and Trigonella foenum greacum have been reported to be beneficial for treatment of type 2 diabetes. (Jung M et al, 2006) Several such herbs have shown anti-diabetic activitis when evaluated using different types of experimental techniques. A wide array of plant’s active principles representing different type of biological activity, among these alkaloids, glycosides, galactomannan gun, polysaccharides, peptidoglycans, hypoglycans, guanidine, steroids, carbohydrates, glycopeptides, terpenoids, amino acids and inorganic ions have demonstrated activities including treatment of diabetes. List of the medicinal plants having antidiabetic potential according to the different parts used and modes of action are presented in Table 3.1 and Table3.2
Table 3.1
List of plants having antidiabetic activities
S. No. | Plant part | Name of plants |
1 | Aerial parts | Artemisia pallens, Bidens pilosa, Bixa orellana, Teramnus labialis |
2 | Bark | Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Croton cajucara |
3 | Bulb | Allium cepa, Allium sativum |
4 | Flower | Cassia auriculata, Gentiana olivier, Musa sapientum |
5 | Fruit | Carum carvi, Coriandrum sativum, Embellica officinalis, Juniperus communis, Momordica charantia, Xanthium strumarium |
6 | Leaves | Aloe barbadensis, Annona squamosa, Averrhoa bilimbi, Azadirachta indica, Beta vulgaris, Camellia sinensis, Cassia alata, Eclipta alba, Eucalyptus globulus, Euphrasia officinale, Ficus carica, Gymnema sylvestre, Gynura procumbens, Ipomoea aquatica, Mangifera indica, Myrtus communis, Memecylon umbellatum, Morus indica, Ocimum sanctum |
7 | Rhizome | Nelumbo nucifera |
8 | Roots | Clausena anisata, Glycerrhiza glabra, Helicteres isora, Pandanus odorus |
9 | Seed | Acacia arabica, Agrimony eupatoria, Lupinus albus, Luffa aegyptiaca, Lepidium sativum, Mucuna pruriens, Punica granatum |
10 | Stem | Amaranthus spinosus, Coscinium fenestratum |
11 | Tubers | Ipomoea batata |
12 | Whole plant | Abies pindrow, Achyranthus aspera, Ajauga iva, Aloe vera, Anacardium occidentale, Andrographis paniculata, Capsicum frutescens, Cryptolepis sanguinolenta, Enicostemma littorale, Ficus religiosa |
Table 2
List of plants having Insulin mimetic or insulin secretory activities
S. No. | Plant botanical name | Common name | Family | Mechanism of action |
1 | Abies pindrow | Morinda | Pinaceae | Insulin secretagogue activity |
2 | Acacia arabica | Babool | Leguminosae | Release of insulin from pancrease |
3 | Agrimony eupatoria | Rosaceae | Leaves | Insulin releasing and insulin like activity |
4 | Aloe barbadensis | Gheequar | Liliaceae | Stimulating synthesis and release of insulin |
5 | Annona squamosa | Sharifa | Annonaceae | Increased plasma insulin level |
6 | Averrhoa bilimbi | Bilimbi | Oxalidaceae | Increase serum insulin level |
7 | Bixa orellana | Annotta | Bixaceae | Increase plasma insulin concentration and increase insulin binding on insulin receptor |
8 | Boerhaavia diffusa | Punamava | Nyctaginaceae | Increase plasma insulin concentration |
9 | Camellia sinensis | Green tea | Theaceae | Increase insulin secretion |
10 | Capsicum frutescens | Mirch | Solanaceae | Increase insulin secretion and reduction of insulin binding on the insulin receptor |
11 | Cinnamomum zeylanicum | Dalchini | Lauraceae | Elevation in plasma insulin level |
12 | Clausena anisata | – | Rutaceae | Stimulate secretion of insulin |
13 | Eucalyptus globulus | Eucalyptus | Myrtaceae | Increase insulin secretion from clonal pancreatic beta line (BRIN-BD 11) |
14 | Ficus religiosa | Peepal | Moraceae | Initiating release of insulin |
15 | Hibiscus rosa | Gudhal | Malvaceae | Stimulate insulin secretion from beta cells |
16 | Helicteres isora | Indian screw tree | Sterculiaceae | Decrease plasma triglyceride level and insulin sensitizing activity |
17 | Ipomoea batata | Shakarkand | Convolvulaceae | Reduce insulin resistance and blood glucose level |
18 | Juniperus communis | Hauber | Pinaceae | Increase peripheral glucose consumption and induce insulin secretion |
19 | Olea europia | Olive | Oleaceae | Increase insulin release and increase peripheral uptake of glucose |
20 | Swertia chirayata | Chirayata | Gentianaceae | Stimulates insulin release from islets |
21 | Scoparia dulcis | Mithi patti | Scrophulariaceae | Insulin-secretagogue activity |
22 | Tinospora crispa | Giloe | Menispermaceae | Anti-hyperglycemic, stimulates insulin release from islets |
23 | Urtifca dioica | Bichhu booti | Urticaceae | Increase insulin secretion |
24 | Vinca rosea | Sadabahar | Apocynaceae | Beta cell rejuvenation, regeneration and stimulation |
25 | Zingiber officinale | Adrak | Zingiberaceae | Increase insulin level and decrease fasting glucose level |
Tables 3.1 and 3.2 from Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine
3.2 Pharmacologically screened insulinomimetic or insulin secretagogues plant material and phytoconstituents
The aim of this review is to collect the data available on plants material having hypoglycemic activity through either increased secretion of insulin from the pancreas or similar action as reported in different sources of literature. According to the search, several plant species have been described as ‘hypoglycemic’ such as Opuntia streptacantha, Trigonella foenum graecum, Momordica charantia, Ficus bengalensis, Polygala senega, Gymnema sylvestre, Allium sativum, Citrullus colocynthis and Aloe vera. The focus of the present review is concentrated on the experimental studies performed on hypoglycemic activities of the plant material and the bioactive components related to the secretion of insulin or its action. Here all the plant materials which are listed were tested for their insulinomimetic or secretogogue activities in the different in vivo or in vitro model systems. Moreover, phytoconstituents isolated from different plants which have shown insulinomimetic activty are also represented in table 3.3 below
Table 3.3
List of plants phytoconstituents having insulin secretagogue or insulin mimetic activity.
S. No. | Plant botanical name | Family | Active constituents | |
1 | Aloe vera | Liliaceae | Pseudoprototinosaponin AIII and prototinosaponins AIII | |
2 | Anemarrhena asphodeloides |
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