Evaluation of hypoglycaemic, hypolipidemic and glucose tolerant effect of Henna leaves on fructose-induced metabolic syndromes in Wistar rats

Abstract

Introduction

The presence of fructose in the diet can cause metabolic syndromes (MS), which can lead to serious complications such as type 2 diabetes. Lawsonia inermis (LI) leaves are commonly used as a treatment, but the studies on their hypoglycaemic and hypolipidemic effects on fructose-induced Wistar rats are very limited. The aim of this study was to evaluate the hypoglycaemic and hypolipidemic effect of aqueous extract of Lawsonia inermis leaves (AELIL) in hyperglycaemic and hyperlipidaemic (HH) male Wistar rats induced by a high fructose diet (HFD).

Methods

To induce MS in Wistar rats by HFD, 6 groups (n = 6) were used, 1st and 2nd consisted of normal control (NC) rats, 3th,4th, 5th and 6th where the rats received HFD (20 % then 25 % w/v) (NF) for 12 weeks, followed by measurement of body weight (BW), fasting blood glucose (FBG), oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), glucose, cholesterol (Chol) and triglyceride (TG) plasma levels. To assess the hypoglycaemic and hypolipidemic effect of AELIL, a dose of 500 mg.kg⁻¹_bw was tested by repeated oral administration for 28 days, for which 4 groups of rats were formed, the 1st was used as normal control (NC), the 2nd was HH control (HHC), the 3rd (HTM) and the 4th (HTEL) were HH groups to which the drug and the extract were administered. During treatment, changes in FBG and BW were recorded, oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), total glucose, Chol and TG plasma levels were measured for all groups at the end of the experiments.

Results

During SM induction, HFD caused a highly significant increase (0.001) in mean of BW (387.25 ± 9.21 vs 283.33 ± 7.00 g), FBG (129.19 ± 3.46 vs 89.33 ± 2.73 mg. dl⁻¹) and serum concentration of Chol (80.67 ± 2.72 vs 53.05 ± 3.84) and TG (151.48 ± 3.46 vs 73.51 ± 2.78) compared with the control, while AELIL showed anti-hyperglycaemic, anti-hyperlipidaemic and tolerance glucose activities with a highly significant (0.001) decrease in serum concentration of glucose (98.78 ± 3.36 mg/dl vs 129.09 ± 2.48 mg/dl), cholesterol (97.55 ± 2.29 mg/dl vs. 104.09 ± 3.43 mg/dl) and TG (94.17 ± 3.94 mg/dl vs. 151.35 ± 3.56 mg/dl) compared with the control, these activities were approximately similar to those of the drug and were accompanied by a significant (p ⩽ 0.05) decrease in the BW of rats' (440.66 ± 8.25 vs. 465.33 ± 3.94687 g) compared with the control at the end of the 4th week of treatment.

Conclusion

HFD for 12 weeks caused significant hyperglycaemia and hyperlipidaemia but did not affect liver, pancreatic, and renal tissues of Wistar rats, whereas repeated treatment for 4 weeks with AELIL showed significant hypoglycaemic, hypolipidemic, and glucose tolerance effects, with different possible mechanisms of action. However, further studies are needed to verify and clarify its effects.