AMELIORATIVE EFFECT OF HELICTERES ISORAL.FRUIT EXTRACT ON EXPERIMENTALLY INDUCED DIABETIC NEUROPATHIC PAIN IN SPRAGUE DAWLEY RATS
Recently the major concerns related with the health of the human being is usually associated with CNS disorders, metabolic disorders Diabetes mellitus and many more which are slowly and steadily creeping up and firming their roots in the destruction of our health. But India scoring the highest, with major number of patients with diabetes mellitus attracts an obvious attention, as it affects each and every organ of the body at a slow pace & acts as a slow poison with its prominent target organs being kidney, nervous system, heart, and lastly brain. Helicteres isora L. (Sterculiaceae) is reported to exhibit several pharmacological effects and to name a few are anti-diabetic, anti-nociceptive, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate its influence against type-2 diabetes induced neuropathic pain in rats. Type-2 diabetes was induced by feeding rats with high fat diet (60% as fat) and high fat emulsion for a period of two weeks and thereafter injecting a low dose of streptozotocin (35mg/kg, i.p.).Thirty days after diabetes induction, fat-fed/STZ-treated rats showed severe neuropathic pain which was assessed by thermal hyperalgesia, and cold allodynia paradigm. There was significant depletion in oxidative markers such as reduced glutathione, SOD levels and increased MDA and NO levels in sciatic nerve. However, treatment with Helicteres isora L. fruit extracts (100 & 200 mg/kg, p.o. for 30 days) significantly showed protection and improvement in neuropathic pain against diabetes, also was found to lower hyperglycemia, serum total cholesterol and triglyceride levels, in addition there was a marked change in the oxidative stress by depleting elevated lipid peroxide and nitric oxide and elevating reduced glutathione levels in diabetic rats. In conclusion, the results of the present study suggested that Helicteres isora L.fruit extract acts as analgesic against type-2 diabetes induced neuropathic pain.