Antihyperglycemic activity of fruit extracts of Sri Lankan endemic species <i>Garcinia quaesita</i> Pierre “Rathgoraka” and its isolated compound, garcinol

• Main Authors: D. S. N. K. Liyanagamage, S. Jayasinghe, A. P. Attanayake, V. Karunaratne, D. S. A. Wijesundara
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 2020-09-01
• Series: Ceylon Journal of Science
• Subjects: garcinia quaesita, garcinol, antihyperglycemic effect, hot water extract, water, acetone extract
• Online Access: https://cjs.sljol.info/articles/7781

The dried fruit of <em>Garcinia quaesita</em> Pierre (Clusiaceae), is a well-known endemic spice in Sri Lanka and has been documented in traditional medicine as an antidiabetic agent. The antihyperglycemic effect of cold water, hot water, water : acetone fruit extracts of <em>G. quaesita</em> and its isolated compound, garcinol in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats was studied. The percentage improvements of glucose tolerance upon total area under the oral glucose tolerance curve in cold water, hot water and water:acetone extracts of <em>G. quaesita</em> (1.0 g/kg) were 6.2%, 7.4 % and 8.1%, respectively. The isolated compound, garcinol at the three selected doses (10 mg/kg, 20 mg/kg, 30 mg/kg), showed a dose dependent, antihyperglycemic activity of 23.6%, 26.5 %, 31.1 % respectively compared to glibenclamide (0.5 mg/kg) (36.1%) (p&lt;0.05). The selected extracts of <em>G. quaesita</em> exhibited significant antihyperglycemic activity in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. The isolated compound, garcinol has significantly higher antihyperglycemic activity than the respective crude extracts. Accordingly, endemic dried fruits of <em>G. quaesita</em> and its isolated compound garcinol are promising antihyperglycemic agents and /or drug leads that would be beneficial in the management of diabetes mellitus.