Evaluation of anti diabetic activity of soybean seeds in albino rats

Abstract

Diabetes is a group of metabolic diseases in which there are high blood sugar levels over a prolonged period of time. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas doesn’t produce any insulin or not enough insulin to help glucose to enter our body’s cells – or the insulin that is produced does not work properly. Rats were made diabetic by a single intraperitoneal injection of alloxan monohydrate (150 mg/kg). Alloxan was first weighed individually for each animal according to the body weight and then solubilized with 0.2 ml saline (154 mM NaCl) just prior to injection. Two days after alloxan injection, rats with plasma glucose levels of 200 mg/dl were selected for the study. Treatment with soybean seeds was started after 48 hr. alloxan injection. Seven days treated albino Wister rats with highest dose of soaked soybean (500ml/kg), germinated soybean (500mg/kg), soybean seeds powder (500mg/kg) and ethanolic extract of soybean seeds (500mg/kg) significantly lowered elevated blood glucose level as compared to diabetic control rats. This study indicates that the soybean extracts possess significant anti diabetic activity against alloxan induced diabetes. This may be attributed due to presence of phytoconstituents like saponin and isoflevonoids.