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ABSTRACT
Syzygium aromaticum (Clove) is one of the traditional medicinal plants. It is a spice which belongs to the Myrtaceae family, it has been used for centuries as a food preservative and medicine because of it antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. This study evaluates the antihyperglycemic potential of methanol extracts of Syzygium aromaticum (Clove) on Streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic Sprague Dawley rats. This experiment comprises of two controls (normal and diabetic) and six test groups with a total of four rats per group. All the diabetic rats in control and test group were injected once intraperitoneally at 55 mg/kg body weight (wt.) of Streptozotocin (STZ). Phytochemical screening and acute toxicity tests were conducted. Sub chronic investigation was carried out using normal male Sprague Dawley rats. Blood samples were collected before and after sacrificing the experimental rats. The phytochemical screening of S. aromaticum (Clove) revealed the presence of glycosides, saponins, alkaloids, reducing sugar, flavonoids, tannins, eugenols and terpenoids. Proximate analysis showed that carbohydrate (34.69 ± 0.54) had the highest concentration while ash (2.85 ± 0.24) had the lowest concentration. Acute toxicity study showed that S. aromaticum (Clove) extracts is relatively non-lethal with an LD50 >5000 mg/kg body weight. Sub chronic toxicity results showed significant (p<0.05) increases in ALT, AST, GGT, LDH, Total bilirubin and Direct bilirubin at the highest concentration of 800 mg/kg body weight. Total cholesterol and Low-density Lipoprotein showed significant increase but inversely impacted HDL-cholesterol in a dose dependent manner. The treatment with S. aromaticum (Clove) extract revealed that diabetic rats treated with 150 mg/kg significantly reduced the blood glucose level from 495.00 ± 32.19 mg to 102.50 ± 18.38 mg on day 21 of the study. This is an indication that extract of S. aromaticum may have the ability to reduce experimental diabetes associated with hyperglycemia and justifies its usage in ethno-medicine against diabetes.
