Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the possible antidiabetic effects of Amaranthus spinosus leaf extract (ASEt) against streptozotocin-nicotinamide induced diabetes &oxidative stress in albino rats.Methods: Experimental diabetes was induced by a single dose of STZ (60 mg/kg) administered by intraperitoneal way after the administration of nicotinamide (120mg/kg). The oxidative stress was measured by reduced glutathione (GSH) content and by enzymatic activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) in liver and kidney. Biochemical observations were further substantiated with histological examination of pancreas, kidney and liver. Results: The increase in blood glucose with the decrease in GSH content and in enzymatic activities were the salient features observed in diabetic rats. Administration of ASEt (250 & 500 mg/kg bw/day, i.p) for 21 days caused a significant reduction in blood glucose in STZ-nicotinamide treated rats when compared with diabetic rats. Furthermore, diabetic rats treated with ASEt leaf extract showed a significant increase in the activities of both enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants when compared to those of diabetic rats. Degenerative changes of pancreatic cells in STZ treated rats were minimized to near normal morphology by administration of ASEt leaf extract as evidenced by histopathological examination.Conclusion: Results clearly indicate that Amaranthusspinosus treatment attenuate hyperglycemia by decreasing oxidative stress and pancreatic cells damage which may be attributed to its antioxidative potential.

Recently, the use of herbal medicines has been increased all over the world due to their therapeutic effects and fewer adverse effects as compared to the modern medicines. However, many herbal drugs and herbal extracts despite of their impressive in-vitro findings demonstrates less or negligible in-vivo activity due to their poor lipid solubility or improper molecular size, resulting in poor absorption and hence poor bioavailability. Nowadays with the advancement in the technology, novel drug delivery systems open the door towards the development of enhancing bioavailability of herbal drug delivery systems. For last one decade many novel carriers such as liposomes, microspheres, nanoparticles, transferosomes, ethosomes, lipid based systems etc. have been reported for successful modified delivery of various herbal drugs. Many herbal compounds including quercetin, genistein, naringin, sinomenine, piperine, glycyrrhizin and nitrile glycoside have demonstrated capability to enhance the bioavailability. The objective of this review is to summarize various available novel drug delivery technologies which have been developed for delivery of drugs (herbal), and to achieve better therapeutic response. An attempt has also been made to compile a profile on bioavailability enhancers of herbal origin with the mechanism of action (wherever reported) and studies on improvement in drug bioavailability, exhibited particularly by natural compounds.
Biological Availability ; Drug Delivery Systems ; Herbal Medicine ; Humans ; Lipids ; chemistry ; Nanoparticles ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; Nanotechnology ; Pharmaceutical Preparations ; administration & dosage ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; pharmacokinetics ; pharmacology ; Plants, Medicinal ; Solubility