Indian J. Anim. Res.

, 43 (2) : 139-141,2009 AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION JCENTRE

www.arccjournals.com/indianjournals.com

HYPOGLYCAEMIC EFFECT OF PLEUROTUS OSTREATUS IN RATS

L. Saritha Krishna, P.T.A. Usha, and A.M. Chandrasekhara Nair

Department of Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology
College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences
Mannuthy, Thrissur, Kerala - 680 651, India

ABSTRACT
The study was conducted to assess the hypoglycaemic effect of Pleurotus ostreatus in alloxan
diabetic rats. Three dose levels of Pleurotus ostreatus (250, 500 and 1000 mg/kg) were tested in
rats. All the alloxan diabetic rats showed decrease in body weight. Administration of Pleurotus
ostreatus resulted in increasing body weight in a dose dependent manner. A dose dependent
decrease in blood glucose level was obtained with P. ostreatus at doses of 250, 500 and 1000 mg/
kg. The increased serum cholesterol level observed in alloxan diabetic animals was reversed with
the administration of P. ostreatus. The lowest serum cholesterol level was observed with 1000
mg/kg of P. ostreatus. All the experimental groups showed reduction in the serum triglyceride
level but the most significant result (P<0.05) was shown by Group V. The diabetic animals
showed a significant decrease (P<0.05) in liver glycogen level but the liver glycogen level was
.significantly increased (P<0.05) when treated with P. ostreatus. The present study revealed
hypoglycaemic and hypolipidemic effect of P. ostreatus.
Key words: Hypoglycaemic, Pleurotus ostreatus, Rats.

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease of
. greater concern world wide causing severe
complications induding blindness, cardiac and
kidney diseases. It is characterized by abnormal
insulin secretion or insulin receptor or post receptor
events affecting carbohydrate, protein 'and fat
metabolism and it damages liver, kidney and Beta
cells of pancreas (Singh et al., 2005). In animals,
diabetes mellitus occurs most frequently in dogs and
cats. Some' breeds like Miniature poodles, Scottish
terriers, Rot Weiler and Dachshund have a genetic
predisposition towards diabetes. In modern
medicine satisfactory effective therapy is not
available to cure diabetes mellitus. Insulin and oral
hypoglycaemic agents like salphonyl ureas and
~., biguanides are still major drugs in the management
of this disease (Ghosh et al., 2004). Although oral
hypoglycaemic agents and insulin are mainstay in
the treatment of diabetes and are effective in
controlling hyperglycaemia, they have side effects
and fail to alter the course of diabetic complications.
This highlights the importance of searching for an
alternate therapy with drugs having not only
insulinotropic effect but also increased insulin
sensitivity. It is quite clear from the literature that
notmuch scientific studies have been carried put to
elucidate hypoglycaemic effect of Pleurotus speci.es.
Therefore, it is worthwhile to undertake this study to
evaluate the hypoglycaemic effect of Pleurotus
ostreatus in alloxan diabetic rats.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The study was conducted in adult Sprague-
Dawby strain male albino rats weighing 150-200 g.
All the rats were maintained under identical
conditions of feeding and management practices in
the laboratory for one week before the
commencement of study. The experiment was
carried out for a period of 45 days. Fresh Oyster
mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) was dried under
shade at room temperature, powdered and extracted
using ethanol in Soxhlet apparatus. The liqUid
extract was then dried by keeping in a water bath at
low temperature. A weighed quantity of crude
extract was homogenized with five per cent gum
acacia and administered orally to rats. Forty rats
were randomly divided into five groups comprising
of eight animals each.
140 INDIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL RESEARCH
Table 1: Effect of different doses of ethanolic extract of Pleurotus ostreatus on body weight (g)
Period (days) Group I Group II Group III Group IV Group V
o 170.00 ± 4.22 173.75 ± 4.97 178.75 ± 3.98 175.00 ± 3.27 171.25 ± 3.98
16 180.00 ± 3.78A 152.50 ± 3.66B 148.75 ± 2.26BC 151.25 ± 3.5B 146.25 ± 3.24BC
30 192.5 ± 3.13A 140.00 ± 2.67 F 158.75 ± 2.26CDE 162.5 ± 13BCD 165 ± 2.67 BC
45 202.5 ± 3.66A 133.75 ± 3.24F 161.25 ± 2.26DE 163.75 ± 3.23cDE 167.50 ± 2.5BCD

Table 2: Effect of different doses of ethanolic extract of Pleurotus ostreatus on blood glucose levels m (mg/dl)
Period (days) Group I Group II Group III Group IV Group V
o 90.57 ±1.11 94.62 ±3.25 95.43±2.85 94.56±2.28 91.54±2.65
16 94.43±1.99B 260.69±8.07A 265.1±4.85A 255.12±3.68A 258.86±453A
30 96.74±2.12F 262.7±8.74A 219.7 ± 4.39 BCD 215.17±4.53 CD 201.57±4.09 DE
45 91.33±1.86F 264.93±8.77A 177.56±3.95C 160.72±3.26D 154.9±3.16D
(Means bearing same superscript do not differ significantly at P<0.05)

Group I - Normal control, administered with dichloromethane extract of Ibervillea sonorae. A

five per cent Gum acacia p.o daily (0.5 ml) from
16th to 45th day.
Group II - Diabetic control, administered with
single dose of 10 per cent alloxan at a dose of 130
mg/kg subcutaneous on day zero.
Group III - Diabetic rats, administered with
ethanolic extract of PIeurotus ostreatus at a dose of
250 mg/kg p.o. daily from 16th to 45th day.
Group IV - Diabetic rats, administered with
ethanolic extract of PIeurotus ostreatus at a dose of
?OO mg/kg p.o. daily from 16th to 45th day.
Group V - Diabetic rats, administered with
ethanolic extract of PIE;urotus ostreatus at a dose of
1000 mg/kg p.o. daily from 16th to 45th day.
Body weight, blood glucose, serum
cholesterol and serum triglyceride were estimated
on zeroth, 16th , 30th and 45th day. On 45th day, all
the animals were sacrificed and liver glycogen was
estimated.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
All the groups showed gradual decrease in
body weight from 16th to 45th day except in norn1al
control. This agrees with the finding of Xie et aI.
(2003) who reported that the body weight get reduced
in diabetic patients due to increased mobilization of
fatty acids from storage. The animals treated with
PIeurotus ostreatus showed increase in body weight
in a dose dependent manner (Table 1). Similar
increase in body weight was observed by Alarcon-
Aguilar et aI. (2005) who administered
dose dependent decrease in blood glucose level was
obtained .with PIeurotus ostreatus at doses of 250,._
500 and 1000 mg/kg (Table 2). Raphel et al. (2002)
also reported a decrease in blood glucose level after
administration of Phyllanthus amarus extract.
Animals under diabetic control group showed
substantial increase in total serum cholesterol (Table
3). Lino et al. (2004) suggested that hyperlipidaemia
occurs in untreated patients because of altered
metaolism of carbohydrate, ketones and amino
acids. The abnormalities could be due to decrease
in the circulating concentration of insulin (insulin
deficiency) and decrease in the response of
peripheral tissues to insulin (insulin resistance). There
was substantial reduction in serum cholesterol level
in all the treated groups after 30 days of
administration of Pleurotus ostreatus. The dose rate
of 1000 mg/kg showed lowest cholesterol level of
95.63 ± 2.51 mg/di. This finding is in agreement
with the observation of Bopanna et al. (1997) who
found that the administration of neem kernel powder
alone at the dose rate of 500 mg/kg decreased
concentration of serum lipids in alloxan diabetic rats
(Table 4). There was significant increase in serum
triglyceride level in all the diabetic rats. Shirwaikar
et al. (2005) suggested that the most common lipid
abnormalities in diabetes were hypertriglyceridaemia
and hypercholesterolemia. All the experimental
groups exhibited reduction in serum triglyceride level.
The group V showed lowest serum triglyceride level
of 106.75 ± 1.51 mg/k~. Lowering of serum
triglyceride level was also observed by Chakrabarti
 Vol. 43, No.2, 2009 141
Table 3: Effect of different doses of ethanolic extract of Pleurotus ostreatus on serum cholesterol level in diabetic rats (mgidl)
Period (days) Group I Group II Group III Group IV Group V
o 78.13±3.74 75.00±4.21 68.13±3.35 79.38±2.57 82.00±2.47
16 79.25±2.70D 156.75±3.49AB 151.75±3.61ABC 155.75±3.37ABC 151.75±3.68DC
30 80.13±2.17F 152.88±2.17A 132.75±3.28B 131.38±3.05BC 124.75±3.07D
45 80.63±3.03E 154.63±2.80A 106.63±2.83B 104.63±2.64C 95.63±2.5lD
(Means bearing same superscript do not differ significantly at P<O.05)

Table 4: Effect of different doses of ethanolic extract of Pleurotus ostreatus on serum triglyceride level in diabetic rats (mgldl)
Period (days) Group I Group II Group III Group IV (;roup V
o 69.63±1.90 70.25±1.89 70.38±1.66 72.75±1.94 74.13±1.91
16 72.00±1.13D 158.13±1.63BC 158.88±2.14BC 163.38±2.26AB 165.13±1.88A
30 70.00±1.56F 157.63±O.94A 137.38±2.17C 138.13±2.01C 137.00±1.96C
45 68.75±1.31G 160.38±1.22A 113.50±2.09C 1l1.13±1.85CD 106.75±1.57D
(Means bearing same superscript do not differ significantly at P<0.05)

et al. (2005) by the administration of Caesalpinia Pleurotus ostreatus produced significant increase in
bonduceJIa for 28 days in rats. The diabetic liver 9"lcogen when compared to diabetic control.
animals showed marked deGrease in liver glycogen John (2003) also reported similar observation and
content. The decrease in hepatic and skeletal suggested that increase in liver glycogen may be due
muscle glycogen content in diabetic rats was to enhanced rate of glycogenesis. The results of the
observed by Maiti et al. (2004). They suggested present study revealed that Pleurotus ostreatus at
that decrease in muscle and hepatic glycogen may the rate of 1000 mg/kg is the most suitable dose rate
be due to lack of insulin and also inactivation of among the doses tested in redUcing blood glucose
glycogen synthase system. Treatment with and lipid levels.

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