Studies on Some Indian Antidiabetic Plants: Pharmacognosy, Phytochemistry and Pharmacology

Diabetes mellitus, a group of metabolic diseases characterized by hyperglycemia, is treated mainly with synthetic drugs which exert serious side effects when taken for a long time. These days dietary measures and traditional herbal therapy such as herbal preparations / agents are used as the preferred antidiabetic agents. Four plants, Cassia alata, Artocarpus heterophyllus,, Costus pictus and Bauhinia purpurea Linn.and 3 combinations of plants are studied for their efficacy in antihyperglycemic activity of the extracts in diabetic rats, hypoglycemic activity, effect of the extracts on enzymatic antioxidants and non-enzymatic antioxidants and lipid peroxidation, carbohydrate metabolizing enzymes, effect to retrieve the renal toxicity caused due to diabetes and antihyperlipidaemic effect. In addition, studies on the phytoconstituents and pharmacognostic characters of the first four plants are conducted.