ANTIOXIDANT AND HYPOLIPIDAEMIC EFFECTS OF PHYLLANTHUS FRATERNUS METHANOLIC LEAF EXTRACT ON STREPTOZOTOCIN- INDUCED DIABETIC RATS

Treatments of diabetes with available agents comes with one or more side effects, hence, there is need for continual search of alternative treatment agents from medicinal plants. This study was designed to evaluate the antioxidant property and hypolipidaemic effect of Phyllanthus fraternus methanolic leaf extract in diabetic rats. The antioxidant property was evaluated using DPPH free radical scavenging activity and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. Thirty rats were used out of which twenty four were diabetic. Diabetes was induced by administration of streptozotocin (STZ) intraperitoneally at 60 mg/kg body weight (bw). Five experimental groups (Group A-E) of six rats each were used, the treatment lasted for 28 days; group A was normal control, B was diabetic control while C was standard control treated with metformin at 5mg/kg bw., group D and E received (200 and 300) mg/kg bw of the extract respectively. The IC50 for free radical scavenging activity of P. fraternus and ascorbic acid were 43.98 mg/ml and 47.04 mg/ml respectively, while that of ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) were 48.17mg/ml and 51.95mg/ml for P.fraternus and ascorbic acid respectively. Treatments with different doses of methanolic leaf extract of Phyllanthus fraternus and metformin were shown to significantly (p<0.05) decrease the hyperlipidemia observed in the diabetic control group. Similarly, the level of HDL was observed to be significantly (p<0.05) higher in all the treatment groups when compared to the diabetic untreated group. The reversal of abnormalities observed in lipid profile by methanolic extract of P. fraternus and its antioxidant potency offered a potential source of new orally active agent that can halt and reverse most complications due to diabetes. Key words: Antioxidant, hypolipidaemia, Streptozotocin, Phyllanthus fraternus, extract