Cissus sicyoides (princess vine) in the long-term treatment of streptozotocin-diabetic rats

• Published in: Biotechnology and applied biochemistry 2003-02, Vol.37 (1), p.15-20
• Main Authors: Pepato, Maria Teresa, Baviera, Amanda Martins, Vendramini, Regina Célia, Da Silva Perez, Maira da Penha Marques, Kettelhut, Isis do Carmo, Brunetti, Iguatemy Lourenço
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Administration, Oral; Animals; anti-diabetic activity; anti-diabetic plant; biguanide; Biological and medical sciences; Cissus - chemistry; Cissus - metabolism; Cissus sicyoides; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental - diagnosis; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental - drug therapy; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental - physiopathology; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; General and cellular metabolism. Vitamins; gluconeogenesis; Glucose; insulin; Insulin - administration & dosage; Male; Medical sciences; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Phytotherapy - methods; Plant Extracts - administration & dosage; Plant Leaves - chemistry; Plant Leaves - metabolism; plasma glucose; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Streptozocin; sulfonylurea; Treatment Outcome; vegetal insulin
• ISSN: 0885-4513; 1470-8744
• DOI: 10.1042/BA20020065

Leaf decoctions of Cissus sicyoides (princess vine) are taken widely as a popular remedy for diabetes mellitus in Brazil, where its common name is ‘vegetal insulin’. However, there have been practically no attempts so far to determine scientifically whether it has anti‐diabetic effects and we decided to administer leaf decoctions, over extended periods, to normal and streptozotocin‐diabetic rats, and investigate the effects of this treatment on the physiological and metabolic parameters that are altered in diabetic animals. The experimental model adopted was shown to be appropriate by running a parallel treatment with insulin, which led to expected improvements in several abnormal parameter values. The decoction treatment significantly reduced the intake of both food and fluid and the volume of urine excreted, as well as the levels of blood glucose, urinary glucose and urinary urea, in comparison with controls. Lipid metabolism was not affected by the treatment; nor was the level of hepatic glycogen in diabetic animals, which indicated that the mechanism responsible for the improvement in carbohydrate metabolism, observed in animals treated with the decoction, could not involve inhibition of glycogenolysis and/or stimulation of glycogenesis. The fact that normal animals treated with C. sicyoides exhibited no changes in any of the measured parameters suggests that its mode of action in diabetic animals does not resemble those of sulphonylurea or insulin. It may, however, act in a similar way to biguanide, via inhibition of gluconeogenesis.