Evaluation of the hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic and anti alpha amylase effects of extracts of the twigs and fruits of ficus ovata vahl (moraceae)

I.2.4. Uses of some Ficus in traditional pharmacopoeia to treat diabetes

Table III: Uses of some Ficus in traditional pharmacopoeia to treat diabetes

Plants	Parts used	Indigenous use (Kiran et al., 2011)
Ficus bengalensis L	Aerial roots, bark	1. The stem bark is extracted in hot water and extract is given orally to the patient. 2. By eating fruits to reduce blood glucose. 3. Regular chewing of fresh root tips can reduce blood glucose level.
Ficus racemosa Roxb	Bark, Fruit	1. Decoction of ripe fruits use in diabetes. 2. Decoction of stem bark reduces blood glucose.
Ficus lacor Ham	Fruit	Powder of dried ripe fruits is used to treat diabetes
Ficus religiosa L.	Bark	The bark boiled in hot water and the extract given orally to the diabetic person
Ficus microcarpa L.f.	Fruit, leaves	Fresh leaves and fruits taken in equal quantity, grind them, and taken orally is best remedy to treat diabetes
Ficus virens Dryand	Leaves	Leaves are used to treat diabetes
Ficus carica L.	Leaves	The decoction of leaves used to cure diabetes.
Ficus hispida L.f.	Bark	Infusion of bark used as remedy to treat diabetes

The multiple and diverse uses of Ficus species in traditional pharmacopoeias were definitely the starting point of several scientific studies carried out until today.

I.2.5. Uses of Ficus ovata in traditional pharmacopoeia

The decoction of leaves of Ficus ovata Vahl is used to treat infectious diseases and facilitate childbirth. The decoction of the bark stems is used in the treatment of gastrointestinal infections, diarrhea and as antipoison. In Benin, the leaves of Ficus ovata are used against external hemorrhoids, sprains and jaundice (yellowing) (Kuete et al., 2009) and its leaves are used in Ivory Coast against the psychoneuroses. For this, we must drink a glass of the decoction of the leaves, morning, noon and night, wash your body with this and make a decoction enema decoction of roots (Assi et al., 1990). Fruits are used to stimulate milk production in cows and stem back use as food for mastication (Hanelt et al., 2001).

I.2.6. Previous work on biological activities of some Ficus

We have put together some previous phytochemical and biological work on the genus Ficus, which has lead to the isolation of a number of secondary metabolites belonging to several classes of compounds and responsible in one way or the other for their biological activities.

Table IV : Previous work on the biological activities of some Ficus

Plants	Research goal	Extract	Activity
Ficus ovata	Test of antimicrobian activity of a crude extracts, fractions and compounds	Methanol bark and trunk extract	The crude extract and certain compounds inhibited the activity of steptococus faecalis, candida albicans, microsporum audouini, staphylococus aureus (Kuate et al., 2009).
Ficus Glomerata	-Hypoglycemic activity in alloxan induced diabetic -Antihyperglycemic activity in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats	Ethanolic leaves bark and aqueous extract	It has significant antihyperglycemic effect in experimental model of diabetes (Vivek et al., 2010). antihyperglycemic activity in experimental animals (Faiyaz et al., 2008).
Ficus hispida Linn.	Hypoglycemic activity in normal and diabetic rats and probable mechanism	Ethanolic bark extract	Hypoglycemic activity. Increased glycogenesis and enhanced peripheral uptake of glucose are the probable mechanisms (Ghosh et al., 2004).
Ficus exasperata	Glycemic effect in fructose induce glucose intolerance in Sprague-Dawley rats	aqueous leaves extract	The extract ameliorated glucose intolerance induced by fructose feeding in rats (Idowu et al., 2010).
Ficus racemosa Linn.	hypoglycemic and in vitro antioxidant activity	ethanolic Fruits extract	It was suggested that it has both hypoglycaemic and antioxidant potential (Abu et al., 2011).
Ficus Carica	Hypoglycemic Effect In normal and Streptozotocin Induced Diabetic Rat	Water Leaves extract	Oral consumption of aromatic water leaves of Ficus carica decreased blood glucose level in normal and diabetic rats (Rashidi et al., 2011).
Ficus krishnae L.	Anti-Diabetic and Antihyperlipidemic Activity in alloxan Induced Diabetic Rats	leaves	Ficus krishnae have an anti-diabetic effect in alloxan induced diabetic rats and their effect was equivalent to that of reference drug glibenclamide (Mohana et al., 2010).

Herbal extracts contain different phytochemicals with biological activity that can be of valuable therapeutic index. Much of the protective effect of fruits and vegetables has been attributed by phytochemicals, which are the non-nutrient plant compounds. Different phytochemicals have been found to possess a wide range of activities, which may help in protection against chronic diseases. For example, glycosides, saponins, flavonoids, tannins and alkaloids have hypoglycemic activities; anti- inflammatory. Reports show that saponins possess hypocholesterolemic and antidiabetic properties. (Poongothai et al., 2011)

Flavanoids are reported to regenerate damaged pancreatic beta cells and glycosides stimulate the secretion of insulin in beta cells of pancreas. Glycoside of leucopelargonidin isolated from the bark of F. bengalensis demonstrated significant hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic and serum insulin raising effects. Phenolic compounds including quercetin and luteolin are effective in diabetic treatment where they present capacity to scavenge superoxide radical. Reports suggest that Quercetin and tannins treatment has protective effect in diabetes by decreasing oxidative stress and preservation of pancreatic beta cell integrity. Also Plant polyphenols have been known to exert anti-diabetic action and promote insulin action (Abu et al., 2011). Findings indicated that quercetin improved insulin signalling and sensitivity and thereby promoted the cellular actions of insulin in an acquired model of insulin resistance.

In previous pharmacological investigations, Ivorra et al. (1989) reported that â-sitosterol induced the uptake of insulin from â-cells and produced an anti-hyperglycemic effect. On the other hand, stigmasterol, lupeol, ursolic and oleanolic acids showed to have hypoglycemic activity. Oleanolic acid and semi-synthetic derivatives were described as â-glucosidase inhibitors. Finally, triterpenoids induced an anti-diabetic effect by different pathways, and their combination could provoke a synergic effect.