Objective: Antidiabetic efficacy of medicinal plant can't be ignored in order to develop drugs without toxicity and side effects. Hence, present study deals with the Laser Induced Break down Spectroscopy based validation of glycemic elements present in Swertia chirata.
Methods: The aqueous extract of S. chirata stems was prepared. Male albino Wistar rats were selected for the experiments. Diabetes was induced by streptozotocin injection. Antidiabetic activity of the extract was assessed in normal, mild and severely diabetic rats. Elemental concentrations of aqueous extract of S. chirata stems was measured by Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). LIBS is a very powerful and efficient analytical tool for determining elemental constitution.
Results: The maximum fall of 12.5 % (P < 0.01) and 16.9% (P < 0.01) after 3h of glucose administration during glucose tolerance test (GTT) was observed in BGL from a dose of 200 mg/kg, identified as the most effective dose, in normal and mild diabetic rats respectively. In severely diabetic rats the maximum fall of 34.9 and 31.1% (P < 0.05) in fasting blood glucose (FBG) and post prandial glucose (PPG) levels, and 25% (P < 0.01) in urine sugar levels was observed with the same dose. Haemoglobin level increased by 7.3 % (P < 0.05) and body weight by 15.7% (P < 0.05) after 21 days treatment. High intensities of Ca, Mg and Fe indicate large concentrations of these elements in the extract since according to Boltzmann’s distribution law, intensities are directly proportional to concentrations. The higher concentrations of these glycemic elements viz. Ca, Mg and Fe are responsible for the antidiabetic potential of S. chirata stems.
Conclusion: Normal, mild and severely diabetic rat models had shown hypoglycamic as well as antidiabetic effect of the S. chirata stems aqueous extract. It is correlated to the concentration of elements present in the extract as revealed by LIBS spectra in this study.