Impact of Carissa carandas Linn. Fruit Extract on Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes Mellitus

ABSTRACT: Carissa carandas is traditionally used as an herbal remedy in Asian countries for diabetes due to its multiple pharmacological activities. The potential activity of the ethanolic extract of C. carandas fruits as an anti-diabetic agent was investigated in this study. Rats with streptozotocin-induced (STZ) diabetes were used to evaluate the effects of the ethanolic extract of C. carandas fruit. Various parameters, including body weight, oral glucose tolerance test, blood glucose levels, biochemical and hematological parameters, antioxidant enzyme activities, DNA damage inhibition, and qRT-PCR, were analyzed. The LD50 of the ethanolic extract of C. carandas was determined to be 2000 mg/kg body weight. The results demonstrate that, compared to the diabetic control group, the ethanolic extract of C. carandas fruit significantly reduced high blood glucose levels (p<0.05) to 400 mg/dL. Additionally, the levels of peroxidase, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase in the liver were significantly lower in the diabetic controls than in the groups treated with 400 mg/kg of the fruit extract. The STZ-induced diabetic controls showed higher levels of Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPD) gene expression and lower levels of hexokinase gene expression compared to the other groups. These findings suggest that the ethanolic extract of C. carandas fruit has potential as an ethnic medicine for treating diabetes mellitus and holds medicinal value in drug discovery as a therapeutic agent.