Nutraceutical Potential and Hepatoprotective Effect of Leaf and Green Berry Extracts of Solanum nigrum Linn on Obese Diabetic Rats

Abstract

Naturally occurring, plant-derived stuffs using for therapeutic practices are known as traditional herbal medicines. Solanum nigrum Linn. is an annual herbal plant, which possess culinary and therapeutic properties. Present study efforts to associate hepatoprotective effect of fresh and cooked S. nigrum Linn. leaf and green berry extracts in obese diabetic condition in animal model. newlineThe plant S.nigrum Linn. was duly certified by a taxonomist and cultivated in a greenhouse at the Institute. Collected leaves and berries were subjected to different cooking methods (boiling, steaming, pressure cooking, sautéing and microwave cooking). Quantitative estimation of selected nutrients and qualitative estimation for various phytochemicals were done for fresh and cooked leaves and berries and percentage of nutrient retention were also calculated. From the analysis, steamed leaf and green berry were selected for further study. The antioxidant activity of aqueous extracts (fresh and steamed S. nigrum Linn. leaves and green berries) was examined by DPPH method. Acute toxicity study conducted to determine dosage of supplementation (animal experiment) and toxicity effect. Male Sprague dawley rats (42 no.) were used for the study. The rats were grouped into seven and all groups except normal control were induced with obesity (through high fat diet supplementation) associated diabetes mellitus (IP injection of streptozotozine and nicotinamide). After confirmation of hyperglycemia, the treatment groups received plant extracts (500mg/kg bw) along with high fat diet for a period of 45 days. Different biomarkers responsible for anti-obesity, hypolipidemic, ant diabetic and hepatoprotective effects and histopathology of adipose tissue, pancreas, kidney and liver were analyzedat the end of study period. newlineSteam cooked S.nigrum Linn. leaf and green berry were selected for further comparison study with fresh leaf and green berry due its more nutrient and phytochemical retention.