38 • Probe •Vol LXII • No. 4 • Sep–Dec 2023 Herbal Notes Gymnema sylvestre Sanskrit name Meshashringi English name Gymnema Habit and Habitat Gymnema sylvestre is a perennial, woody climber. It is a slow-growing herb found in the tropical and subtropical humid regions of central and southern India, southern China, Africa, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka. The plant comprises opposite, elliptic or ovate leaves, and yellow flowers in a lateral umbel cyme.1 Pharmacologic Actions G sylvestre comprises a diverse mixture of bioactive phytomolecules such as gymnemic acids, gymnemosides, gymnemasaponins, gurmarin, gymnemanol, stigmasterol, d-quercitol, b-amyrin–related glycosides, anthraquinones, lupeol, hydroxycinnamic acids, and coumarols. G sylvestre is widely used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. It also demonstrates a potential effect in the treatment of obesity, arthritis, hyperlipidemia, and hypercholesterolemia. The bioactive compounds of G sylvestre possess antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties.1 A preclinical study was conducted to evaluate the antidiabetic and hypolipidemic activities of G sylvestre aqueous leaf extract against dexamethasone-induced insulin-resistant (IR) Albino rats. Group 1 (normal control) received normal saline intraperitoneally (IP), group 2 (diabetic control) received gum acacia (2%) orally, groups 3 and 4 (test groups) received G sylvestre aqueous leaf extract (2 and 4 g/kg body weight, respectively) orally; and group 5 (standard control) received metformin (2 g/kg body weight) orally, for 12 days. IR was induced in groups 2 to 5 with dexamethasone (8 mg/ kg body weigh IP) from days 7 to 12. At the end of the treatment period, serum glucose, insulin, and lipid levels were measured, and the liver tissue was evaluated histopathologically.2 Gymnema sylvestre is the only ingredient of Himalaya Meshashringi. Treatment with the aqueous extract of G sylvestre leaves significantly reduced the elevated serum glucose and insulin, normalized the lipid levels, and restored the histopathology of the liver. Thus, the study demonstrated the antidiabetic and hypolipidemic activities of G sylvestre leaves.2 An in vitro study was conducted to evaluate the antidiabetic effect of the triterpene glycoside fraction of G sylvestre on mouse fibroblast preadipocyte (3T3L1) and skeletal muscle cell lines (C2C12). Cellular glucose uptake was estimated by treating separate sets of the differentiated 3T3L1 adipocytes and C2C12 cells (2 × 104 cells/well) with the crude ethanolic extract of G sylvestre leaves and active triterpene glycoside fraction at 50 and 100 µg/mL concentrations, and standard deacylgymnemic acid (50 µg/mL) and antidiabetic drug pioglitazone (100 µg/mL), along with vehicle controls in 96-well plates. Cell viability and antioxidant assays were then conducted.3 Upon analyses, the triterpene glycoside fraction of G sylvestre was found to have a significant dose- dependent effect on the alleviation of IR compared with that of the crude ethanolic extract of G sylvestre. Thus, the study confirmed the antidiabetic effect of the triterpene glycoside fraction of G sylvestre.3 References 1. Tiwari P, et al. Biomed Res Int. 2014;2014:830285. 2. Kumar HV, et al. Int J Med Res Health Sci. 2015;4(3):639–645. 3. Rashmi SS, Manonmani HK. J Biosci Med. 2020;8:137–151.
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