Abstract
Purpose: This study was made to investigate the antihyperglycemic and antioxidant potential of oil of seeds of Brassica nigra (BNO) in streptozotocin -nicotinamide (STZ) induced type 2 diabetic rats. Methods: BNO was orally administered to diabetic rats to study its effect in both acute and chronic antihyperglycemic study. The body weight, oral glucose tolerance test and biochemical parameters viz. glucose level, insulin level, liver glycogen content, glycosylated hemoglobin and antioxidant parameters were estimated for all treated groups and compared against diabetic control group. Results: Administration of BNO at a dose 500 mg/kg and 1000 mg/kg body weight p.o. to STZ diabetic rats showed reduction in blood glucose level from 335 mg/dl to 280 mg/dl at 4th h and from 330 mg/dl to 265 mg/dl respectively which was found significant (p<0.01) as compared with diabetic control. BNO (500 mg/kg and 1000 mg/kg) and glibenclamide (0.6 mg/kg) in respective groups of diabetic animals administered for 28 days reduced the blood glucose level in streptozotocin-nicotinamide induced diabetic rats. There was significant increase in body weight, liver glycogen content, plasma insulin level and decrease in glycosylated hemoglobin in test groups as compared to control group. In vivo antioxidant studies on STZ-nicotinamide induced diabetic rat’s revealed decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) and increased reduced glutathione (GSH). Conclusion: Thus the results showed that the oil of seeds of Brassica nigra has significant antihyperglycemic and antioxidant activity.