TY - JOUR

T1 - Evaluation of Safety of Stewart's Wood Fern (Dryopteris stewartii) and Its Anti-Hyperglycemic Potential in Alloxan-Induced Diabetic Mice

AU - Hanif, Uzma

AU - Raza, Chand

AU - Liaqat, Iram

AU - Rani, Maryam

AU - Afifi, Sherif M

AU - Esatbeyoglu, Tuba

AU - Bahadur, Saraj

AU - Shahid, Sara

N1 - Funding Information: The publication of this article was funded by the Open Access Fund of Leibniz Universität Hannover.

PY - 2022/10/17

Y1 - 2022/10/17

N2 - Diabetes has become a critical challenge to the global health concerns. Cytotoxicity and development of resistance against available drugs for management of diabetes have shifted the focus of global scientific researchers from synthetic to herbal medications. Therefore, the current study was conducted to investigate the possible anti-hyperglycemic potential of Dryopteris stewartii using Swiss albino mice. To evaluate any possible toxic effect of the plant, acute oral toxicity test was performed while the anti-diabetic effects of aqueous and ethanol extracts at 500 mg/kg, positive, negative and normal control were assessed simultaneously. The anti-diabetic study revealed that aqueous extract has higher anti-diabetic potential than ethanol extract while lowered blood glucose level at second week reaching 150 mg/dL, exerting stronger anti-diabetic effects, compared to ethanol extract (190 mg/dL). Oral glucose tolerance findings revealed that aqueous extract decreased blood glucose level by -0.41-fold, compared to ethanol extract showing a decrease by only -0.29-folds. The histopathological evaluation of liver and pancreas of all groups revealed normal cell architecture with no morphological abnormalities. These results suggested the possible use of D. stewartii as anti-diabetic herbal drug in near future. However, these recommendations are conditioned by deep mechanistic studies.

AB - Diabetes has become a critical challenge to the global health concerns. Cytotoxicity and development of resistance against available drugs for management of diabetes have shifted the focus of global scientific researchers from synthetic to herbal medications. Therefore, the current study was conducted to investigate the possible anti-hyperglycemic potential of Dryopteris stewartii using Swiss albino mice. To evaluate any possible toxic effect of the plant, acute oral toxicity test was performed while the anti-diabetic effects of aqueous and ethanol extracts at 500 mg/kg, positive, negative and normal control were assessed simultaneously. The anti-diabetic study revealed that aqueous extract has higher anti-diabetic potential than ethanol extract while lowered blood glucose level at second week reaching 150 mg/dL, exerting stronger anti-diabetic effects, compared to ethanol extract (190 mg/dL). Oral glucose tolerance findings revealed that aqueous extract decreased blood glucose level by -0.41-fold, compared to ethanol extract showing a decrease by only -0.29-folds. The histopathological evaluation of liver and pancreas of all groups revealed normal cell architecture with no morphological abnormalities. These results suggested the possible use of D. stewartii as anti-diabetic herbal drug in near future. However, these recommendations are conditioned by deep mechanistic studies.

KW - Mice

KW - Animals

KW - Alloxan/adverse effects

KW - Dryopteris

KW - Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental/pathology

KW - Blood Glucose

KW - Ferns

KW - Hypoglycemic Agents/adverse effects

KW - Plant Extracts/adverse effects

KW - Ethanol/adverse effects

KW - toxicity

KW - diabetes mellitus

KW - ethnomedicine

KW - metabolic disorder

KW - in vivo

KW - anti-diabetic

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85140819193&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/ijms232012432

DO - 10.3390/ijms232012432

M3 - Article

C2 - 36293291

VL - 23

JO - International Journal of Molecular Sciences

JF - International Journal of Molecular Sciences

SN - 1422-0067

IS - 20

M1 - 12432

ER -