Abstract

REVIEW ON ANTIDIABETIC MEDICINAL PLANTS

Hariprasad. R*, Kandasamy, C.S., Krishna Kumar, N, Shalavudeen Mohamed Akbar, S., Jegadeesh, S, and Venkatanarayanan, R.

ABSTRACT

Diabetes mellitus is common metabolic disorders. Since long back herbal medicines have been the highly respected source of medicine therefore, they have become a growing part of modern, high-tech medicine. The present review provides profiles of plants with hypoglycaemic properties, available through literature source from various database with proper categorization according to the parts used, mode of reduction in blood glucose and active phytoconstituents having insulin mimetics activity. From the review it was suggested that, plant showing hypoglycemic potential mainly belongs to the family Leguminoseae, Lamiaceae, Liliaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Asteraceae, Moraceae, Rosaceae and Araliaceae. The most active plants are, Gymnema sylvestre, Citrullus colocynthis, Trigonella foenum greacum, Momordica charantia, Allium sativum. The review describes some new bioactive drugs and isolated compounds from plants such as roseoside, epigallocatechin gallate, beta-pyrazol-1-ylalanine, cinchonain Ib, leucocyandin 3-O-beta-d-galactosyl cellobioside, leucopelargonidin-3- O-alpha-L rhamnoside, glycyrrhetinic acid, dehydrotrametenolic acid, strictinin, isostrictinin, pedunculagin, epicatechin and christinin-A showing significant insulinomimetic and antidiabetic activity with more efficacy than conventional hypoglycaemic agents. The antidiabetic activity of medicinal plants is attributed to the presence of polyphenols, flavonoids, terpenoids, coumarins and other constituents which show reduction in blood glucose levels.

Keywords: Diabetes, Acacia, Alangium, Aloe vera, Panax.