This study was designed to evaluate the effect of Terminalia chebula fruit extract on the levels of plasma and tissue glycoprotein components in streptozotocin-induced-diabetic rats. Oral administration of T. chebula fruit extract at a concentration of 200 mg/kg body weight for 30 days significantly reduced the levels of blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, urea, and creatinine as well as fucose, hexose, hexosamine and sialic acid in the diabetic rats treated with the fruit extract. The observed decrease in the levels of plasma insulin and C-peptide in the diabetic rats was elevated to near normal by T. chebula fruit extract treatment. Histological observations made on the pancreatic tissue of control and experimental groups also revealed the beneficial effect of T. chebula fruit extract. The efficacy of the fruit extract was comparable with glibenclamide, a known hypoglycaemic drug.

Address S P Subramanian Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology University of Madras Guindy Campus Chennai 600 025 Tamil Nadu India;

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