Screening Isolation and characterization of Hypoglycemic Plants for their Antioxidant activity

Abstract

The term diabetes mellitus (DM) describes a metabolic disorder of multiple etiology characterized by chronic hyperglycemia with disturbances of carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action or both. The effect of diabetes mellitus includes long-term damage, dysfunction and failure of various organs1. Diabetes complications are divided into microvascular and macrovascular. Microvascular complications include damage to eyes (retinopathy) leading to blindness, to kidneys (nephropathy) leading to renal failure and to nerves(neuropathy) leading to impotence and diabetic foot disorders (which include severe infections leading to amputation). Macrovascular complications include cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack, stroke and insufficiency in blood flow to legs1. Diabetes provides a major challenge to the present population globally. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 171 million people newlineworldwide have diabetes. This figure is likely to be more than double by 2030 to newlinereach 366 million. In India, approximately 31.7 million people suffered from diabetes in 2000 and it is estimated that about 79.4 million people will be diabetic by 20302. Oxidative stress is known to be a component of molecular and cellular tissue damage mechanisms in a wide spectrum of human diseases3. Excessive oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathology of DM4 . Oxidation and production of free radicals are an integral part of normal cell metabolism5. Free radicals are very reactive chemical species, can cause oxidative injury to the living beings by attacking the macromolecules like lipids, carbohydrates, proteins and nucleic acids. Under normal physiological conditions, there is a critical balance in the generation of oxygen free radicals and antioxidant defense systems used by organisms to deactivate and protect themselves against free radical toxicity6.