ABSTRACT
Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder, which causes insulin resistance, relative insulin deficiency, and hyperglycemia. Insulin resistance occurs due to the accumulation of fatty acids or fatty acid derivatives in muscle and liver. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) obesity can be induced in newborn mice with the subcutaneous administration of MSG. It results in lesions in hypothalamic arcuate nucleus and impairs leptin and insulin signaling causing hyperleptinemia and hyperinsulinemia. Pterocarpus marsupium is distributed in the hilly regions of the Deccan peninsula in India. P. marsupium heartwood was collected from the Idukki district in Kerala. Crude and distilled extracts of two types of extracts of the heartwood of P. marsupium were used in this study. To the diabetic mouse, 0.25 ml of 10% of the aqueous extract (25 mg/mouse or nearly 1.25 g/kg body weight) was administered orally. The results of this study show that the administration of the extracts of P. marsupium is able to control the MSG diabetic condition to a very great extent. They are able to reduce the obesity situation which is evident from the reduced weight and reduced Lee index in the extracts-fed diabetic animals. When treated with the crude and distilled extracts of P. marsupium for a period of 60 days the MSG diabetic mice were able to get over the hyperglycemic effect. The distilled fraction of the aqueous extract contains specific chemical compounds with antidiabetic and antilipidemic properties.
