Development of a Polyherbal formulation FMST and Evaluation for Antidiabetic Activity in Alloxan Induced Diabetic Rats

Background: Medicinal plants have curative properties due to the presence of various complex chemical substance of different composition, which are found as secondary plant metabolites in one or more parts of these plants. Herbal formulation treatment can significantly alter the pattern of glucose tolerance in normal and diabetic rats. It is possible that herbal formulation may act through both, pancreatic and extra pancreatic mechanism(s). In present study the polyherbal formulation (FMST) was developed by mixing the hydroalcoholic extracts of the stem barks of Ficus bengalensis (FBE), fruits of Momordica charantia (MCE) and seeds of Trigonella foenum graecum (TGE) and Syzygium cumini (SCE) in optimized ratio. The aim of this work was to establish the dose response relationship of the individual and combined herbal extracts. Further it was aimed to optimize the dose of the formulation to produce the required effect. The antidiabetic activity was determined in normal and diabetic rats respectively. In the hypoglycemic study of individual extracts, the optimum doses were found to be 120, 300, 1000 and 500 mg/kg b.w, p.o/day, of extracts of FB, MC, TG and SC respectively. The optimized doses were further evaluated for antidiabetic activity in alloxan induced diabetic rats. Based on the above optimized doses, a polyherbal formulation was prepared by mixing the extracts in the ratio of 1.2:3:10:5. Materials and method: Albino Wister male rats of weighing between 150 to 200 gms used for the study. Diabetes was induced by injecting alloxan (120 mg/kg, i.p.). Group I served as normal control, Group II served as diabetic control, Group III served as standard control and treated by Tolbutamide 100 mg/kg p.o. Group IV, V and VI served as diabetic rats treated with FMST at different dosage of 200 mg/kg (FMST-2), 400 mg/kg (FMST-4) and 600 mg/kg (FMST-6) for the purpose of dose optimization and to find out the most effective and safer dose. All the treatments were given for 21 days. At the end of study on 21 day over night fasted rats were sacrificed and blood was collected to determine fasting blood glucose and biochemical findings. Result: The dose response relationship of the formulation was observed as per the evaluation of antidiabetic activity. The combined herbal extract exhibited synergistic effect, and was better than any of the extracts. The initiation of the effect was early and the duration was increased with the combination. Diabetic rats treated with FMST-2, FMST-4 and FMST-6 significantly (P<0.01) reduced fasting blood glucose and normalize the lipid profile, renal profile and hepatic profile. Improvement in the histopathology of pancreas and liver of FMST-4 treated rats confirmed its protective role in alloxan induced diabetes. Conclusion: It can be concluded that FMST-2, FMST-4 and FMST-6 possess antidiabetic activity. FMST-4 was found to be optimum and may be beneficial improving complications associated with diabetes mellitus. From the above, it may be concluded that polyherbal formulation exhibited superior desired activity because of their combined individual activities. The study provides scientific support for their claimed activity in Ayurveda.