Antidiabetic modulatory effects of Vernonia amygdalina and Allium sativum combined extract in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

This study investigated the ameliorative effects of Allium sativum and Vernonia amygdalina combined extract (VAAS) in streptozotocin-induced diabetic male Wistar rats. A total of 36 rats were divided into six groups (n = 6) and diabetes mellitus (DM) was induced by injecting streptozotocin (STZ, 65 mg/kg body weight) intraperitoneally. The activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), reduced glutathione (GSH) concentration, catalase (CAT) activity, malondialdehyde (MDA), urea, and liver function enzymes were assessed in addition to liver and kidney pathology. It was found that VAAS significantly (p < 0.05) lowered fasting blood glucose and improved body weight in diabetic rats. The activities of SOD, CAT and GSH concentration were significantly (p < 0.05) lowered following induction of DM and increased (p < 0.05) after VAAS treatment. Conversely, levels of MDA, urea, alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were significantly (p < 0.05) increased following induction of DM and lowered (p < 0.05) after VAAS treatment. The liver and kidney of VAAS treated group exhibited signs of tissue architecture improvement after STZ caused damage. The findings of this study show that VAAS could be developed as an alternative therapy in DM treatment. © 2022, The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Society for Plant Research.