Glucose Uptake Potential in L6 Myotubes by Ficus racemosa

Introduction: Ficus racemosa is widely used in ayurvedic medicine in India, mostly as fruits and bark decoction to treat uncontrolled diabetes, the objective of this study is to study the uptake of glucose in L6 myotubes by Ficus racemosa.

Background: Diabetes is a common metabolic disease characterized by abnormally high plasma glucose levels, leasing to major complications, such as diabetic neuropathy, retinopathy and cardiovascular disease. Presently available oral hypoglycaemic agents exhibit several side effects. Therefore, there is a need for more effective oral antihyperglycemic agent, particularly those that normalize both insulin and glucose levels.

Method: Cell culture: L6, a mono layer myoblast culture (obtained from NCCS, Pune-Passageno-19) was cultured in the DMEM. In vitro glucose uptake activity: Glucose uptake assay was followed by the methodology of (Gupta et al).

Result: It was observed from the results that Ficus racemosa extract at different concentrations exhibited substantial degree of glucose uptake in skeletal muscle cells, which was compared with that of Standard Metformin. A maximum glucose uptake of 53% was observed for ficus 30mg/ml, whereas metformin exhibited 61% of glucose uptake. The IC50 of ficus extract and metformin was found to be 2.57mg/ml and 1.79mg/ml respectively.

Conclusion: From the study that was conducted above it can be concluded that Ficus racemosa had a better glucose uptake compared to the with that of Standard Metformin used by diabetic patients.