A preliminary evaluation of cytotoxicity, antihyperglycemic and antinociceptive activity of Polygonum hydropiper L. ethanolic leaf extract

Abstract

Polygonum hydropiper L. is used by folk medicinal practitioners of Bangladesh. Juice of leaves is used in headache, pain, toothache, liver enlargement, gastric ulcer, dysentery, loss of appetite and dysmenorrhea; roots are used as stimulant; juice is applied to wounds, skin. In this study, we analyze the cytotoxicity property of aerial parts of the plant along with antihyperglycemic and antinociceptive activity. Cytoxicity was determined by brine shrimp lethality assay and antihyperglycemic activity was measured by oral glucose tolerance tests. Antinociceptive activity was determined by observing decreases in abdominal writhings in intraperitoneally administered acetic acid-induced pain model in mice. Administration of ethanol extract of leaf led to dose-dependent and significant reductions in blood glucose levels in glucose-loaded mice. Blood sugar levels of the tested mice were reduced significantly by 48.8, 51.5, 54.1, 58.2 % (p < 0.05) compared to control mice with the increasing dosage of the extract such as 50, 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg of body weight respectively. In contrast, when glibenclamide, a standard antihyperglycemic drug was administered at a dose of 10 mg/kg body weight, it reduced blood glucose level by 42.1 %. On the other hand stem extract only reduced 1.5 % of blood sugar level of the tested mice which was not significant. In the case of antinociceptive activity tests, the extract at the above four doses reduced the number of abdominal writhings by 14.10, 17.95, 29.49 and 41.02 % respectively in comparison with a standard drug Aspirin. In cytotoxicity tests, nauplli were treated with a gradually increased concentration of the extract, ranging from 10 to 45 μg/ml. The LC50 was found at a concentration of 16.22 μg/ml, compared with control. The results of the present study showed that Polygonum hydropiper L. ethanolic leaf extract possess antihyperglycemic and antinociceptive activity. All these effects could be due to the bioactive components of this plant and need to be identified for further research about this plant. This could justify its ethnomedical use.