Vol. 11, Special Issue 1 (2022)

Author(s):
Yashas R Kumar, HD Narayanaswamy, Suguna Rao, ML Satyanarayana, Prakash Nadoor and D Rathnamma

Abstract:
Medicinal plants have a vast potential in the treatment of various ailments due to the presence of therapeutically important phytochemicals. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of antihyperglycemic effect of pomegranate juice and peel extract individually and in combination in STZ induced diabetes in rats for a period of 45 days. The study included seven treatment groups comprising of ten albino Wistar rats each. The various groups in this study included normal control (Group I (NC)), diabetic control (Group II (DC), diabetic rats treated with metformin at the rate of 500 mg/kg bwt (Group III (MF)), diabetic rats treated with pomegranate fresh juice at (100% dosage) Group IV(PJ)), diabetic rats treated with pomegranate peel extracts (at 100% dosage) ( Group V (PPE)), diabetic rats treated with pomegranate fresh juice (1mL) + pomegranate peel extracts (100mg) at 50 per-cent dosage and metformin (half dose) Group-VI (PJ+PPE+MF 50%), diabetic rats treated with pomegranate fresh juice (0.5mL) + pomegranate peel extracts extract (50mg) at 50 per-cent dosage and metformin (half dose) Group-VII (PJ+PPE @ 50% +MF 50%). The results showed significant (P ≤ 0.05) increase in mean (± SE) serum glucose, triglyceride, cholesterol, ALT, AST levels in Group II diabetic control rats. All the treatment groups treated with pomegranate juice or pomegranate peel extract (Group IV to VII) individually or in combination showed a significant improvement in all the parameters tested compared to the diabetic control rats. It was observed that the pomegranate peel extract treated rats yielded better improvement in the tested parameters compared to the pomegranate juice treated group. In addition the groups treated with combination of pomegranate juice, peel extract and metformin at half dose revealed a better improvement compared to individual treatment groups. From the results this could be inferred that pomegranate juice and pomegranate peel extract have antihyperglycemic, hepatoprotective and hypolipidemic actions and peel extract is better in alleviating the effects of STZ induced changes in rats.