Hakam Hasan Alkhateeb
1* 
, Mohammed al-duais
2 1 Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan
2 Margaret A. Gilliam Institute for Global Food Security, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Abstract
Introduction: Cyphostemma digitatum has a high content of antioxidant constituents and has been employed by the traditional healers and local people of Yemen for diabetes treatment. However, scientific evidence regarding its antidiabetic efficacy is largely unknown. Accordingly, the present study aimed to confirm the treatment effects of a dietary natural product prepared from Cyphostemma digitatum (PCD) in diabetic rats.Methods: Diabetes was induced by a high-fat diet and streptozotocin (HF-STZ). PCD (1 g/kg) was given by gavage administration once a day continuously for 30 days. At the end of treatment, blood and skeletal muscle samples were collected for further analysis.Results: The antidiabetic effects of PCD were demonstrated by significant reduction (P ≤ 0.05) in the levels of serum glucose (40%), triglyceride (32%), cholesterol (53%), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (44%), malondialdehyde (MDA) (61%) in PCD treated groups compared to the diabetic control group. Additionally, PCD treatment significantly (P ≤ 0.05) restored the decreased levels of insulin (70%) and the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) (57%) and reduced glutathione (GSH) (544%) when compared to that of diabetic control rats. We found that treatment with PCD for 30 days fully restored the plasmalemmal glucose transporter type 4 (GLUT4) contents, as well as the phosphorylation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) (P ≤ 0.05).Conclusion: Thus, PCD treatment can be considered a potential drug candidate for diabetes.