Pharmacological Evaluation of Ethanolic Extract of Basella Rubra Leaves on Streptozocin Induced Diabetic Rats

Gampa Vijaya Kumar¹, Dr. Nagaraju M Kulkarni², T.Mounica^3
1Professor and Head, Department of Pharmacy, KGR Institute of Technology and Management, Rampally, Kesara, Rangareddy, Telangana, India.
²Associate Professor, KGR Institute of Technology and Management, Rampally, Kesara, Rangareddy, Telangana, India.
³KGR Institute of Technology and Management, Rampally, Kesara, Rangareddy, Telangana, India.

A B S T R A C T
Herbal medicines are considered to offer gentle means of managing chronic diseases at a lower cost. Basellarubra. (BR) (Gammalu in Sinhala) heartwood and bark have been used as antidiabetic remedies in many cultures for thousands of years. The aim of this review is to address the existing evidence on antidiabetic effects of the Basellarubra. The hypoglycaemic effects, antidyslipidaemic effects, antioxidative effects and the safety of the PM heartwood and the bark have been scientifically validated using a multitude of in vitro and in vivo studies. Multiple -cell regeneration, insulinbmechanisms responsible for hypoglycaemic effects of BR including release and insulin-like actions of some compounds isolated were identified. (-)-Epicatechin, a -cell regeneration andbflavonoid isolated from the bark has shown insulin-like effects, effects on  insulin release. Several compounds including pterostilbene and marsupsin isolated from the BR heartwood were identified as compounds with hypoglycaemic effects. The latex (gum) of the tree is a popular remedy used in Sri Lanka for diabetes even though the literature on BR does not discuss about the antidiabetic effects of the latex. Few investigations focused on the antidiabetic effects of BR latex have demonstrated strong inhibitory effects of the latex on α-amylase and α-glucosidase activities and on protein glycation. Investigations focusing on the antidiabetic effects and possible toxicity of the BR latex are essential to validate its efficacy and safety.
Keywords: anti diabetic, basellarubra, hypoglycaemic effects