Bacopa monnieri: An evaluation of antihyperglycemic and antinociceptive potential of methanolic extract of whole plants

Antihyperglycemic and antinociceptive activity studies were carried out with methanolic extract of whole plants of Bacopa monnieri, respectively, through oral glucose tolerance test and gastric pain model induced by acetic acid in Swiss albino mice. In OGTT (oral glucose tolerance tests) conducted with glucose-challenged mice, the extract, administered at four doses of 50, 100, 200 and 400mg per kg body weight, dose-dependently and significantly inhibited the increase in serum glucose concentrations, respectively, by 33.3, 34.2, 42.1 and 44.2%. A standard antihyperglycemic drug, glibenclamide, when administered at a dose of 10mg per kg body weight, inhibited increase in serum glucose concentration by 50.7%. From the results, it can be concluded that the methanolic extract of the plant possess significant antihyperglycemic potential. In antinociceptive activity tests, administration of the extract at the afore-mentioned four doses also significantly and dose-dependently reduced the number of acetic acid-induced gastric constrictions in mice. The percent inhibitions in gastric constrictions were, respectively, 43.4, 46.6, 50.0, and 53.4 at the above four doses. A reference antinociceptive drug, aspirin, when administered at a dose of 200 mg per kg body weight, reduced the number of gastric constrictions by 40.0%. Thus the extract at even the lowest dose of 50 mg, demonstrated antinociceptive activity better than that of aspirin, and which activity was much more than aspirin at the other three higher doses tested. The results demonstrate that the plant can be an excellent candidate for further studies towards isolation of antihyperglycemic and pain-killing compounds.