Effect of leaf extract of Aegle marmelose in diabetic rats.

Alloxan induced animal model was used to evaluate the potential antidiabetic effect of A. marmelose leaf extract. The diabetic animals were given insulin injection and another group A. marmelose leaf extract orally. It maintained the weight of the animals near to the control rats but a significant decrease in weight was noted in diabetic animals without any treatment. The blood glucose level in treated animals were near to that of control ones. Also a significantly increased glucose tolerance was observed in animals orally given the leaf extract prior to the experiment. A significant decrease in liver glycogen (1.24 +/- .07 g/100 g of wet tissue) was observed in diabetic rats which was brought to almost the normal level (1.84 +/- .14 g/100 g) with leaf extract treatment. Blood urea and serum cholesterol increased (62.66 +/- 3.50 and 192.67 +/- 13.64 mg/dl) significantly in alloxan diabetic rats. The leaf extract treatment decreased the blood urea and serum cholesterol (37.83 +/- 3.97 and 99.20 +/- 8.43 mg/dl) to that of control ones. A similar effect was seen with insulin treatment. The results indicate that the active principle in A. marmelose leaf extract has similar hypoglycaemic activity to insulin treatment.