Screening of Bearberry leaves extracts hypoglycemic effect and study of acute toxicity

Diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2) is a global health problem. The plant origin medicinal preparations revealed different mechanisms of antidiabetic action. Despite a wide range of plants that have already been studied, other species are of interest. Particularly, Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) attracted our attention because its leaves are rich with biologically active compounds, but hypoglycemic activity has not been studied yet. The aim of our experiment was studding acute toxicity and hypoglycemic activity of Bearberry extracts on non-diabetic standard models. Materials and methods . It was conducted the screening of hypoglycemic effect in healthy rats, oral glucose tolerance test in healthy rats and study of acute toxicity. The object of study were water and alcohol polyphenol extracts of Bearberry leaves (extractor –alcohol 50 % and 90 %). Results and discussion . Screening and comparative study shows that the maximal hypoglycemic activity revealed Bearberry leaves alcohol extract (extractor – 50 % ethanol, PE50) in dose 100 mg/kg. The least pronounced effect was observed for the introduction of water extract administration. Conclusions . The results indicate the practicability of this Bearberry leaves extract further study for renewal the range of medicinal products that revealed hypoglycemic activity.