Evaluation of Safety of Stewart's Wood Fern (Dryopteris stewartii) and Its Anti-Hyperglycemic Potential in Alloxan-Induced Diabetic Mice

authored by

Uzma Hanif, Chand Raza, Iram Liaqat, Maryam Rani, Sherif M Afifi, Tuba Esatbeyoglu, Saraj Bahadur, Sara Shahid

Abstract

Diabetes has become a critical challenge to the global health concerns. Cytotoxicity and development of resistance against available drugs for management of diabetes have shifted the focus of global scientific researchers from synthetic to herbal medications. Therefore, the current study was conducted to investigate the possible anti-hyperglycemic potential of

Dryopteris stewartii using Swiss albino mice. To evaluate any possible toxic effect of the plant, acute oral toxicity test was performed while the anti-diabetic effects of aqueous and ethanol extracts at 500 mg/kg, positive, negative and normal control were assessed simultaneously. The anti-diabetic study revealed that aqueous extract has higher anti-diabetic potential than ethanol extract while lowered blood glucose level at second week reaching 150 mg/dL, exerting stronger anti-diabetic effects, compared to ethanol extract (190 mg/dL). Oral glucose tolerance findings revealed that aqueous extract decreased blood glucose level by -0.41-fold, compared to ethanol extract showing a decrease by only -0.29-folds. The histopathological evaluation of liver and pancreas of all groups revealed normal cell architecture with no morphological abnormalities. These results suggested the possible use of

D. stewartii as anti-diabetic herbal drug in near future. However, these recommendations are conditioned by deep mechanistic studies.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Food Science and Human Nutrition
Molecular Food Chemistry and Food Development

External Organisation(s)

Government College University Lahore
University of Sadat City
Hainan University

Type

Article

Journal

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Volume

ISSN

1422-0067

Publication date

17.10.2022

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Molecular Biology, Spectroscopy, Catalysis, Inorganic Chemistry, Computer Science Applications, Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Organic Chemistry

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232012432 (Access: Open)