Browsing by Author "Kuffour, George Asumeng"

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    Hypoglycaemic activity and other pharmacological properties of tragia tennifolia (fam. euphorbiaceae)
    (2001) Kuffour, George Asumeng
    The hypoglycaemic effect of Tragia tennfolia was studied in alloxan-induced diabetic rats, rats subjected to oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and rats subjected to a fasting plasma glucose test (FPG). An infusion of T. tennifolia insignificantly reduced (P > 0.05) glycaemic levels alongside glibenclamide (an oral hypoglycaemic agent) and metformin (an euglycaemic agent ) and insignificantly (P > 0.05) affected some diabetes related parameters (polyuria, polyphagia polydipsia, glucosuria and body weight) measured in alloxan-induced diabetes mellitus as compared to insulin. The area under the OGTT curve reduced significantly with the peak plasma glucose concentration reducing by 60 % on administration of Ttennfolia to normal rats. The FPG in normal rats was also reduced by 33.1 % after 5 hours. This indicates that an infusion of Tragia tennfolia has prominent hypoglycaemic effect in normal rats. The drug is effective in decreasing hyperglycaemia in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) at a dose level of 53 mg/kg but not in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Experiments on the isolated guinea-pig ileum, the rat annococcygeus muscle and the rat uterus preparations indicates that Tragia tennfolia has muscarinic, histaminic, α-adrenergic and some β-adrenergic receptor activity with its muscarinic activity possibly accounting for the hypoglycaemic effect. No acute toxic symptoms were observed after an oral administration of up to 8 g/kg of Tragia tennfolia extract and sub-acute studies revealed no damage to vital organs like the liver and kidney.