Hypolipidaemic & hepatoprotective effects of Psidium guajava raw fruit peel in experimental diabetes.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES The study evaluated the hypolipidaemic and hepatoprotective effects of unripe Psidium guajava fruit peel aqueous extract in streptozotocin (STZ) induced severely diabetic rats by assaying their triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, alkaline phosphatase (ALKP), asperate amino transeferase (AST), alanine amino transferase (ALT) and creatanine (CRTN) levels. METHOD Severely diabetic albino Wister rats of same age group were treated orally once a day upto 3wk with a dose of 400 mg/kg bw of lyophilized extract. TG, TC, HDL, ALKP, AST, ALT and CRTN were estimated. LDL and VLDL cholesterol levels were calculated from the above measurements by using Friedwald formula. RESULTS A significant decrease in TG (P<0.01), TC (P<0.01), HDL (P<0.001) VLDL (P<0.001) and LDL (P<0.01), ALKP (P<0.01), AST (P<0.05), ALT (P<0.05) and CRTN (P<0.001) levels were observed after 21 days treatment of aquous extract of raw fruit peel compared to pre treatment levels. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION The extract showed significant hypolipidaemic activity in addition to its hypoglycaemic and antidiabetic activity. In view of its relative non-toxic nature P. guajava raw fruit peel may be a potential antidiabetic agent.