Antidiabetic Activity of the Ethanol Extract of Capparis sepiaria L Leaves

Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 378 May June 2008 Venketaraman BV. Prescription audit in an Indian hospital setting using the DD concept. Indian J Pharmacol 1994;26:23-8. WHO collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology. Anatomic5. therapeuticchemical classiÞ cation of drugs (ATC) ClassiÞ cation index. Oslo: Norway; 2005. Available from http://www.whocc.no/atcddd/.[cited 2005 Jan 15]. John L, Rao PS, Kangasabapathy AS. Prevalence of diabetic 6. nephropathy in non-insulin dependent diabetes. Indian J Med Res 1991;94:24-9. Freedman BI, Tuttle AB, Spray BJ. Familial predisposition to 7. nephropathy in Africans and Americans with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Am J Kidney Dis 1995;25:710-3. Viktil KK, Blix HS, Moger TA, Reikvam. Polypharmacy as commonly 8. defined is an indicator of limited value in the assessment of drug related problems. Br J Clin Pharmacol 2007;63:187-95. Bennet PN, Brown MJ. Clinical pharmacology. Edinburgh: Churchill 9. Livingstone; 2003. WHO model list of essential drugs; 13th ed. [revised on 2003 Apr]. 10. Available from: http://www.who.int/medicines/organization/par/edl/ expcom13/EML13_en.doc. [cited on 2005 Mar 29]. Weir MR, Hanes DS, Klassen DK. Antihypertensive drugs. In: Brenner, 11. Rector, editors. The Kidney. Vol 2. 7th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders Publishers; 2004. p. 2387-94. Chobanian AV, Barkis GL, Black HR, Cushman WC, Green LA, Izzo J, 12. et al. The seventh report of the joint national committee on prevention, detection, evaluation and treatment of high blood pressure. JAMA 2003;19:2560-9. Marshall SM. Clinical features and management of diabetic nephropathy. 13. In: Pickup, Willams G, editors. Text book of diabetes. Vol 2. Oxford: Blackwell; 2003. p. 76.6. This study identiÞ ed a wide variety of classes of drugs prescribed in DN. This was indicative of the wide spectrum of prevailing morbidity patterns in patients with this chronic disease. Inpatient based prescription audit has a major advantage of minimising the drop-outs because patient compliance is ensured. The information on drug prescribing patterns can provide a framework for continuous prescription audit in a hospital setting. This can help the prescribers to improve patient management by rationalising prescribing practices.

This study identiÞ ed a wide variety of classes of drugs prescribed in DN.This was indicative of the wide spectrum of prevailing morbidity patterns in patients with this chronic disease.Inpatient based prescription audit has a major advantage of minimising the 'drop-outs' because patient compliance is ensured.The information on drug prescribing patterns can provide a framework for continuous prescription audit in a hospital setting.This can help the prescribers to improve patient management by rationalising prescribing practices.
rats and compared against normal saline control and the standard glibenclamide.A maximum fall of plasma glucose level 9.40%; 13.57%; 15.25% and 18.80% was observed after 12 h of treatment when administered with ethanol extract of Capparis sepiaria at 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg, and glibenclamide 10 mg/kg dose, respectively.The fi ndings from the study suggest that the Capparis sepiaria leaves may be prescribed as an adjunct to traditional formulation and drug treatment for controlling diabetes mellitus.

Key words: Capparis sepiaria, streptazotocin (STZ), antidiabetic activity and Capparidaceae
The method described by Lorke 7 was employed for the determination of the LD 50 and the study was approved by the animal ethics committee.Fifty Swiss mice were separated into Þ ve groups, each consisting of Þ ve males and Þ ve females, each weighing 20-25 g (n=10).They were fasted overnight and administered with the ethanol extract at the following doses: 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1000 mg/kg, i.p.Animals were observed for 24 h after drug administration.The general signs and symptoms of toxicity, intake of food, water and mortality were observed and recorded.The LD 50 value was calculated from the square root of the product of the lowest lethal dose and highest non-lethal dose, i.e., the geometric mean of the consecutive doses for which 0 and 100% survival rate.
Wistar rats of either sex weighing 150-200 g fasted for 18 h were made hyperglycemic by a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ) dissolved in 3 mM citrate buffer, pH 4.5 at a dose of 50 mg/kg body weight.After 48 h of STZ injection, rats exhibiting plasma glucose level of >250-300 mg/dl were included in the study and divided into Þ ve groups of six animals each 8 .One group served as control, which received normal saline (10 mg/ kg, p.o.), second group received the standard drug glibenclamide (10 mg/kg, p.o.) and other three groups received EECS reconstituted in saline (100, 200 and 300 mg/kg, p.o.).Blood samples (0.1 ml) were collected from the tail vein of the rats at 0, 4, 8 and 12 h, respectively after oral administration.The blood sugar concentration was determined by O-toluidine method and the results were tabulated (Table 1).The percent glycemic change in the experimental animals was calculated at a time function using the following formula, % glycemic change = [initial concentrationconcentration]/initial concentration×100.The data were represented as mean±SEM and statistical significance between the treated and control group was analyzed by means of students 't'-test; P<0.05 implies signiÞ cance.
Capparis sepiaria L (Fam: Capparidaceae) is a profusely branched hedge plant with slender prickly shrubs, zigzag stems [1][2] .Traditionally, C. sepiaria is used as blood puriÞ er, stomachic, tonic and appetizer.It's ß owers, leaves and roots are used in cough and toxemia and root powder is also used as a cure for the snakebite 3 .It also possesses febrifuge properties and is used to treat skin diseases, tumors, inß ammation and diseases of the muscles 4 .C. sepiaria along with Oxalis corniculata and Ricinus communis were used for the treatment of aphthae 5 .No reports have been found concerning the pharmacological action of leaves of Capparis sepiaria.Therefore, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the putative anti-diabetic activity of the crude ethanol extract of the aerial parts of Capparis sepiaria.
Fresh leaves of C. sepiaria were collected form Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, during June-July and identiÞ ed by Botanical Survey of India, Coimbatore where a voucher specimen (BSI/SC/5/21/04-05/ TECH-7) was deposited.The plant material was dried under shade, powdered and extracted with ethanol using a Soxhlet apparatus.The resulting ethanol extract was evaporated on a water bath to give a dry extract (8.2% w/w) which was then stored in a refrigerator.Conventional protocols for detecting the presence of various phytoconstituents were employed in screening the ethanol extract of C. sepiaria (EECS) 6 .The presence or absence of saponins, tannins, ß avonoids, alkaloids were observed.
A weighed quantity of the dried ethanol extract was reconstituted in normal saline and evaluated for pharmacological activities.Wistar rats (150-200 g) and Swiss mice (20-25 g) of either sex were used for the investigation.The animals were housed in standard environmental conditions and fed with a standard pellet diet and tap water ad libitum.All the pharmacological study protocols have met with the approval of the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee.also been described that glibenclamide and a natural hypoglycemic product were effective in moderately streptozotocin diabetic animal and ineffective in the severe diabetic rat 10 .Herbal extracts containing ß avonoids and tannins were reported to demonstrate antidiabetic activity 11 .On the basis of the above evidence, it is possible that the flavonoids and tannins present in this plant may be responsible for the observed antidiabetic activity.