Effect of Desmodium gangeticum extract on blood glucose in rats and on insulin secretion in vitro

Desmodium gangeticum is widely used in the indigenous system of medicine in India and is reported to contain flavone and isoflavonoid glycosides. It forms the ingredient of many Ayurvedic formulations used for diabetes. The present study was thus aimed at evaluating the insulin secretion and antidiabetic activity of Desmodium gangeticum. Treatment of diabetic rats with aerial parts of D. gangeticum extract (DG, 100 and 250 mg/kg body weight) for 3 weeks showed a significant reduction in blood glucose. D. gangeticum extract caused a significant increase in insulin secretion from MIN6 cells grown as monolayers and as pseudoislets, indicating that the antidiabetic activity may be as a result of increased insulin secretion. It also had a role on the lipid profile of the rats by causing reductions in cholesterol and triglycerides and increasing the HDL significantly (p < 0.05). This works supports the traditional use of D. gangeticum in the treatment of diabetes and this is likely to be due, at least in part, to its stimulation of insulin secretion by pancreatic islet cells.