Title:Ononis natrix L. Lowers the Blood Glucose Concentration in Wistar Rats with Streptozotocin-induced Diabetes Mellitus
Volume: 21
Issue: 5
Author(s): Baker F. Al-Mubideen, Ala-Aldeen Ahmad Al-Serhan, Justin Z. Amarin, Arwa Al-Dweikat, Ra'ad Z. Al-Muhaisen, Yusra Abu Shreikh, Haya H. Suradi, Hamzeh J. Al-Ameer and Malek A. Zihlif*
Affiliation:
- Department of Pharmacology, The University of Jordan School of Medicine, Amman,Jordan
Keywords:
Traditional medicine, hypoglycemic agents, ononis, wistar rats, streptozotocin, experimental diabetes mellitus.
Abstract:
Background: Practitioners of traditional medicine use the decoction of Ononis natrix L.
to treat hyperglycemia. The literature offers no evidence to support the use.
Objective: To investigate the effect of the decoction of Ononis natrix L. on the blood glucose concentration
in Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus) with streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus.
Methods: We obtained 35 Wistar rats from the animal colony of The University of Jordan School
of Medicine. We induced diabetes by a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (60 mg/kg
body weight) and 23 rats (66%) survived to allocation. We randomly assigned the rats to one of
four groups: negative control (1% Tween 80 in distilled water), positive control (100 mg/kg metformin),
high-dose treatment (7.5 mL of the decoction), and low-dose treatment (3.5 mL of the decoction).
We administered the doses twice daily by oral gavage for two weeks and measured the tailblood
glucose concentration twice daily, once before the first dose and another time after the second
dose. We used linear mixed-effects regression to model the change in blood glucose concentration
as a function of the experimentation groups, with adjustments for pseudoreplication and temporal
variation.
Results: The estimated mean change was 1 mmol/L (−30 to 31 mmol/L) for the negative control
group, −26 mmol/L (−56 to 5 mmol/L) for the positive control group, −75 mmol/L (−108 to −42)
for the low-dose treatment group, and −82 mmol/L (−111 to −53 mmol/L) for the high-dose treatment
group.
Conclusion: In conclusion, we demonstrate, for the first time, the hypoglycemic effect of Ononis
natrix L. in an animal model of diabetes.
