Hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effects of Saururus chinensis Baill in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

Saururus chinensis Baill was reported to inhibit ${\alpha}-glucosidase$ in vitro and flatten postprandial increase in blood glucose in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. We studied the effect of chronic consumption of S. chinensis Baill on blood glucose and lipid profile in STZ-induced diabetic male rats fed high fat diet. Male rats weighing 100-120 g were fed 30% fat diet with and without 10% freeze-dried leaves of S. chinensis Baill for 7 weeks after 1 week of adaptation. The rats were rendered diabetic by intravenous injection of STZ (60 mg/kg) after 6-week feeding of the assigned diets. At 1 week after the injection, the rats were sacrificed after an overnight fast. Plasma glucose ($380.2{\pm}14.4mg/dL$), total cholesterol ($93.9{\pm}7.9mg/dL$) and triglyceride levels ($123.6{\pm}7.5mg/dL$) of the S. chinensis Baill group were significantly lower than those of the control group ($418.1{\pm}12.0mg/dL,\;119.9{\pm}9.4mg/dL,\;152.0{\pm}10.3mg/dL$, respectively, p<0.05). Chronic consumption of S. chinesis Baill significantly decreased maltase activity of the small intestinal mucosa ($120.1{\pm}8.7U/g$) protein compared with the control group ($96.8{\pm}7.0U/g protein, p<0.05). These results suggest that S. chinensis Baill have hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effects by inhibiting ${\alpha}-glucosidase$ activity in the animal model of diabetes mellitus.