Odaro Timothy

Moringa oleifera Lam. is a tree plant specie belonging to the family Moringaceae and it is widely used for various medicinal purposes. This study is aimed at determining the effect of sub- chronic administration of ethanol root extract of M. oleifera on the blood sugar level of non- diabetic Wistar rats. Eighteen adult albino Wistar rats, weiging between 157 g to 292 g were used for the study. The animals were divided into four groups, namely: Groups I, II, III and IV(Control). The extract was prepared using fresh roots of the plant collected from Obe Quarters, Benin City, Edo State. The roots of the plant were shade dried and were grinded to powder form. The extract was obtained by cold maceration of the powdered roots in 99% ethanol at room temperature for 72 hours, filtered and evaporated to dryness in a drying oven at 50°C. Groups I, II and III orally received 150, 300 and 600 mg/kg of ethanol root extract of M. oleifera respectively for a period of 21 days while the control group was administered distilled water only. The blood sugar level of each of the treated rats was measured after 24 hours of extract administration, and subsequently on Day 7, 14 and 21 by reading a strip of blood sample collected from the tail vein using a glucometer test kit. From the results obtained, it was observed that the blood sugar levels in all the treatment groups were not significantly different (p > 0.05) when compared with the control. In conclusion, ethanol root extract of M. oleifera does not have any negative impact on normal glycemic values in Wistar rats.