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ABSTRACT
Diabetes mellitus is a fast growing metabolic disorder and one of the leading causes of death worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of ethanol extract of Cucumis sativus on liver function in diabetic rats. Adult male Wistar albino rats (n = 25) weighing 200 to 230 g (mean weight = 215± 15 g) were used for this study. The rats wererandomly assigned to five groups of 5 rats each: normal control group, diabetic control group, metformin group, 200 mg/kg bwt extract and 300 mg/kg bwt extract groups. Diabetes mellitus was induced in the rats via intraperitoneal injection of STZ at a dose of 50 mg/kg bwt. The diabetic rats were then treated for 21 days with either metformin (50 mg/kg bwt) or the extract at doses of 200 and 300 mg/kg bwt, respectively, leaving the diabetic control group untreated. Induction of diabetes mellitus with STZ significantly increased the serum activities of AST, ALT and ALP, as well as total protein and bilirubin concentrations (p < 0.05). However, treatment of diabetic rats with ethanol extract of C. sativus markedly reduced the activity ofthe liver enzymes, and the concentrations of total protein and bilirubin. The results obtained in this study suggest that ethanol extract of C. sativus is effective in ameliorating STZ-induced diabetes and liver dysfunction.
