ABSTRACT:
Hypoglycemic activity in Picralima nitida Stapf (Apocynaceae), recorded as an index of blood glucose was confirmed in normal and intraperitonially induced alloxan diabetic albino rats with glibenclamide as reference standard and normal saline as control. Toxicity study was evaluation of acute (15 days) tests. 100, 300 and 900 mg kg<sup>-1</sup> of the extracts to normal rats resulted in significant (p<0.01) lowering of fasting blood sugar after 8 h. Extract maintained hypoglycemic action throughout the 24 h of study indicating a long duration of action. In normal rats, pulp extract (100 mg kg<sup>-1</sup>) produced a maximum percentage reduction of 38.35%, rind extract (900 mg kg<sup>-1</sup>) 46.19% and seed extract (100 mg kg<sup>-1</sup>) 36.81%. Alloxan induced rats were pulp 85.85% (300 mg kg<sup>-1</sup>), seed 83.26% (300 mg kg<sup>-1</sup>) and rind 80.25% (900 mg kg<sup>-1</sup>), respectively. Order of activity recorded as pulp > seed > rind. Acute toxicities (LD<sub>50</sub>) of pulp, seed and rind were 7071.06, 948.68 and 1364.91 mg kg<sup>-1</sup>, respectively. Analytical standards were moisture content, ash and extractive values for quality assurance.
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