Effects of aqueous extract of turnip leaf (Brassica rapa) in alloxan-induced diabetic rats

• Main Authors: Mohammad Hassanpour Fard, Ghodratollah Naseh, Nassim Lotfi, Seyed Mahmoud Hosseini, Mehran Hosseini
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Mashhad University of Medical Sciences 2015-02-01
• Series: Avicenna Journal of Phytomedicine
• Subjects: Diabetes mellitus; Alloxan; Brassica rapa
• Online Access: http://ajp.mums.ac.ir/pdf_3980_21c551d726bfd6f89cd79bcb23d8c900.html

Objectives: Turnip leaf has been used in folk medicine of Iran for the treatment of diabetes. However,so far no scientific study has been done to support its use in traditional medicine. The present study was carried out to evaluate the possible hypoglycemic efficacy of aqueous extract of turnip leaf (AETL) in diabetic rats. Materials and Methods: Alloxan-induced diabetic rats were orally treated with AETL at doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight (bw) per day for 28 days. In order to evaluate the anti-diabetic activity, fasting blood glucose concentrations were determined on the 1st, 14th and 29th days. Moreover,at the end of the study, plasma concentrations of total cholesterol, triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), aspartate amino transfarase (AST), and alanine amino transferase (ALT) were measured by the use of standard kits and auto-analyzer. Results:Both doses of AETL significantly decreased (p