Anti-malaria and hypoglycaemic activities of Diosgenin on alloxan-induced, diabetic Wistar rats

The rising threat of Plasmodium falciparum resistance to Monotherapies has prompted the world health organization (WHO) 2006 guidelines to recommend the use of different anti-malarias. In this study, the anti-malaria and hypoglycaemic activities of Diosgenin, a potent, yet poorly reported saponin was investigated on P. falciparum inoculated and Alloxan-Induced, Diabetic Wistar Rats. Fort two (42) adult male wistar rats of between 100g and 150g were procured, acclimatized (for two weeks), and grouped into seven of six (6) rats per group. While Group 1 (Normal control) received normal rat chow and water ad libitum, groups 2 – 4 received no treatment (untreated), 10 mg/kg body weight of anti-diabetic Metformin and 25 mg/kg body weight of diosgenin respectively after inducing diabetes mellitus (DM) with alloxan monohydrate; whereas, groups 5-7 (all malaria infected) were untreated (negative malaria control), 25 mg/kg body weight of diosgenin and 56 mg/kg body weight of anti-malaria coartem respectively. Following treatment period, blood samples were obtained and assayed for fasting blood sugar, packed cell volume (PCV) and total white blood cell count (TWBCC). From the result, P. falciparum exposed rats showed lowered PCV values than control with observed improvements in coartem (significant at p < 0.05) and diosgenin (insignificant) treatment groups. Also, diabetic, diosgenin treated rats showed an insignificant reduction in blood sugar levels compared to control, even though this change was apparently improved compared to diabetic, untreated group. Again, TWBCC caused notable decrease in diosgenin treated, though this decrease signified a huge recovery compared to untreated rats. Corroborative studies on diosgenin with other systems is recommended.