Essential oil of Zygophyllum album inhibits key-digestive enzymes related to diabetes and hypertension and attenuates symptoms of diarrhea in alloxan-induced diabetic rats.

BACKGROUND

Zygophyllum album L. (Zygophyllaceae), commonly known as Bougriba, is widely used to treat diabetes, digestive tract spasm, and hypertension in folk medicine, in Tunisia.

OBJECTIVE

This study investigates the antidiabetic, antidiarrheal, and antihypertensive activities of the leaves of the essential oil from Zygophyllum album (OZA) in alloxan-induced diabetic rats.

METHODS

The oil was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC-MS. Males rats were divided into four groups: control, diabetic-untreated group, diabetic-treated group with acarbose (10 mg/kg), and diabetic-treated rats with OZA (200 mg/kg) for 30 d.

RESULTS

At the end of the experimental period, the OZA significantly decreased the activity of α-amylase in pancreas and serum of the diabetic rats by 43% and 38%, respectively, which led to reduce the serum glucose level by 60% and lower of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) rate by 17% as compared with untreated diabetic animals. Moreover, the OZA treatment attenuated symptoms of diarrhea, improved lipid disorders, and hypertension through inhibiting the pancreatic lipase and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) activities by 47% and 25%, respectively, in serum of diabetic rats.

CONCLUSIONS

OZA showed a good effect in the management of diabetes mellitus and exerted preventive action from related hypertension.