Potent antihyperglycemic and hypoglycemic effect of Tamarix articulata Vahl. in normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a single dose and daily oral administration for seven days of the aerial part aqueous extract (A.P.A.E) of Tamarix articulata Vahl. (T. articulata) (5 mg/kg) on blood glucose levels in both normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats (STZ). Single oral administration of T. articulata A.P.A.E reduced blood glucose levels 6 h after administration in normal rats (p < 0.0001) and STZ diabetic rats (p < 0.001). Furthermore, blood glucose levels were decreased in both normal (p < 0.05) and STZ diabetic rats (p < 0.0001) after seven days of treatment. Moreover, no significant changes in body weight in normal and STZ rats were shown. According to the oral glucose tolerance test, the aqueous extract of T. articulata (5 mg/kg) was shown to prevent significantly the increase on blood glucose levels in both normal and diabetic treated rats 30 min, 60 min and 120 min after glucose administration when compared to the control group. Additionally, histopathological analysis revealed the beneficial effect of T. articulata on pancreas and liver. Finally, the antioxydant activity of the aqueous extract of Tamarix articulata was evaluated by the method of trapping of free radical 2,2-diphenyl-1 picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). Tamarix articulata revealed inhibitory concentrations of 50% of free radicals (IC50) of 203.15 μg/ml. In contrast, the synthetic antioxidant butylhydroxytoluene (BHT) has showed an IC50 equal to 13.71 μg/ml. In conclusion, this study demonstrates antihyperglycemic, hypoglycemic and antioxidant effects of T. articulata in severe diabetic state thus warrants further investigation on its major compounds as well as mechanistic studies.