Hypoglycemic Effect Of Crescentia Cujete Linn. (Bignoniaceae) Fruit Juice In Normal Sprague-Dawley Rats

Crescentia cujete Linn. (Bignoniaceae) is popularly known as Miracle Tree in Mindanao, Philippines for its hearsay uses, one of which is glycemic control. The main objective of this study was to examine the fruit juice of C. cujete for its potential hypoglycemic effect in normal Sprague-Dawley rats. Ripe fruits of C. cujete were collected and prepared into a juice by decoction. The juice was orally-administered to test for its toxicity in normal, female Sprague-Dawley rats at 2000 mg/kg dose, utilizing the acute toxic class method of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Similarly, the juice was orally-administered to test for its acute hypoglycemic effect in normal, male Sprague-Dawley rats at a pre-determined optimal dose of 500 mg/kg. Fasting blood glucose levels were measured using AlphaTRAK 2 Blood Glucose Monitoring System Kit at 0h, 2, 4 and 6h after treatment. Water (10 mL/kg) and Metformin (200 mg/kg) were used as negative and positive controls, respectively. There were no mortality and signs of toxicity after the observation period. Gross necropsy revealed no pathological signs in the heart, liver and kidney. Student's t-test showed that C. cujete significantly increased mean blood glucose level at 2h followed by significant reduction at 4h and 6h (p < 0.05). Two-way Analysis of Variance showed that the effect of C. cujete was significantly different from that of water (p = 0.008) but not significantly different with that of Metformin (p = 0.06). The C. cujete fruit juice demonstrated a hypoglycemic effect after an initial increase in blood glucose.