AMYGDALINA LEAF EXTRACT

The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of aqueous extract of Cymbopogon citratus on blood glucose, body weight and liver, kidney and pancreas reduced glutathione levels on normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Diabetes mellitus was induced in the animals (diabetic control and diabetic treated), by intraperitoneal injections of streptozotocin (45mg/body weight), while the control groups received equal volume of the citrate buffer (pH 4.5) solution intraperitoneally. Streptozotocin treatment significantly increased (p < 0.05) blood glucose concentration in the diabetic rats compared to the normal rats. The normal treated and diabetic treated rats were given Cymbopogon citratus extract for 21 days (400mg/body weight). The pancreas, livers, and kidneys of the rats were excised and biochemical assay of reduced glutathione was determined. There was a significant (p < 0.05) decrease in the fasting blood glucose levels of the normal treated rats when compared with the normal control rats at the end of the 21 days treatment period. Levels of blood glucose in the diabetic rats were significantly increased (p<0.05) compared to the normal control rats. However, levels of blood glucose in the diabetic treated rats were not significantly different (p>0.05) when compared to the diabetic control rats. There was a significant decrease (p<0.05) in body weight in the diabetic rats when compared to the normal control rats. There was no significant % weight (p>0.05) gain in the diabetic treated rats when compared to the diabetic control rats and also there was a non- significant (p>0.05) decrease in weight in the normal treated rats when compared to the normal control rats. In the liver and the pancreas, the results for reduced glutathione concentration showed that there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in the normal treated rats when compared to the normal control rats, in the diabetic control rats when compared to the normal control rats and in the diabetic treated rats when compared to the diabetic control rats. In thekidney, there was no significant difference observed (p>0.05) when the normal treated rats were compared with the normal control rats and when the diabetic treated rats were compared with thenormal control rats. However, when the diabetic treated rats were compared with the diabeticcontrol rats, there was a significant difference (p<0.05). Cymbopogon citratus does have somehypoglycemic and antioxidant properties but further research is needed to ascertain these claims.

Pharmaceutical nanotechnology deals with the formation and development of substances of molecules and atoms ranging from size 0.1 – 100nm which can be further developed into special structures and devices with desired characteristics. This study employed green chemistry to synthesize copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) using fresh leaf extract of Vernonia amygdalina. The resultant CuNPs were investigated by UV-Vis spectroscopy. Fresh leaves were collected and identified, aqueous extraction was then carried out on the washed leaves using water at 60°C. The existence of flavonoids, tannins, glycosides and alkaloids in the plant extract actas reducing, stabilizing and capping agents that reduces the metal ion to form metal nanomaterials. The UV-Vis absorption spectra show maximum absorption at 543nm. The synthesized nanoparticles (NPs) were tested for their in vitro antimicrobial activity against the bacterial strain Staphylococcus aureus using the agar well diffusion method and compared with the following test samples (copper salt solution, plant extract alone, mixture of copper salt solution and plant extract). From the result of the antimicrobial evaluation of the copper nanoparticles, the copper nanoparticles showed the highest zone of inhibition
when compared to the other test samples. This is possible due to the nano-dimension of nanoparticles which increases the surface area of the particles, hence leading to increased antimicrobial activity