Hypoglycemic Activity of , , , and on Wistar Rats.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is considered the epidemic of the 21st century. Traditional medicine uses plants to treat DM; many of these have hypoglycemic effects in both animal models and diabetic patients. Our objective was to evaluate the hypoglycemic activity of , , , and on diabetic rats. The methanolic extracts of the plants under study were obtained by Soxhlet extraction. Toxicity was evaluated on ; the antioxidant potential was evaluated using the DPPH technique. Hypoglycemic capacity at doses of 250 and 500 mg/kg was tested on Wistar rats with diabetes induced by alloxan (120 mg/kg). The toxicity on was null for the extracts of and , moderate for , and highly toxic for . The relevant extract of var. mexicana showed antioxidant activity. Three plants of the studied plants showed hypoglycemic activity: ( = 0.0142), ( = 0.0112), and ( = 0.0078); was the one that showed the greatest reduction in glucose levels at a lower dose.