INVESTIGATING HYPOGLYCEMIC EFFECTS OF THE HERBAL DRUG JIANG TANG 2016 (JT2016)ABSTRACTINTRODUCTION Diabetes has since been a global epidemic; an estimated 5.0 million deaths of diabetes in the world have been recorded; one in 11 adults have diabetes (415 million); and by 2040, one adult in 10 (642 million) will have diabetes. In Africa, more than two thirds of people with diabetes are undiagnosed, and 42 million have diabetes in the Sub-Saharan region with 324 877 adult deaths in South Africa (IDF, 2015). The global prevalence (age-standardized) of diabetes has nearly doubled since 1980, rising from 4.7% to 8.5% in the adult population. This reflects an increase associated with risk factors such as overweight or obese (WHO, 2016). Medicinal plants on the other hand, have played a significant role in the treatment and prevention of diabetes for centuries. In South Africa, indigenous medicinal plants have increasingly been used in the treatment of diabetes.A new anti-diabetes herbal drug named Jiang Tang 2016 (JT2016), is a herbal compound made-up of three well researched South African indigenous medicinal plants. These plants have been used for centuries in the indigenous system of medicine against various ailments, they are easily accessible, they grow in abundance, and are economically sustainable.AIMThe aim of this study was to investigate the anti-diabetic effects of the herbal drug compound, JT2016 in HFD- STZ induced diabetic SD rats. MATERIALS AND METHOD There were 60 male seven weeks old normal Sprague Dawley (SD) rats (210-260g) used for the study, provided by the Model Animal Research Centre of Nanjing University. The study was approved by the ethics committee of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. All animals were housed at the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine animal house at the temperature of 23 +/- 20C, and humidity of 55 +/- 10% with a 12-hour light/dark cycle. The animals were provided with food and water ad libitum. The rats were divided into two main groups immediately after two weeks of adaptive feeding; the normal group fed with normal pellet diet (NPD) (n=10), and the experimental group fed with High Fat Diet (HFD) (n=50). After the two weeks of dietary manipulation, HFD-fed rats exhibited a significant increase in body weight, basal plasma glucose, plasma insulin as compared to NPD-fed rats. HFD-fed rats were injected intraperitoneally with low dose Streptozotocin (STZ) (35mg/kg). Three days later, the animals were fasted and tested for hyperglycemia; every rat tested positive for hyperglycemia was included in the study and randomly assigned into the following five groups: control group, positive drug group (pioglitazone 500mg/kg), JT2016 compound A (JT2016A (300mg/kg)), JT2016 compound B (JT2016B (300mg)), and JT2016 compound C (JT2016 (300mg/kg)). All medicine was administered intragastrically. The JT2016 compounds were grouped into different plant ratios, to determine the most effective combination. Body weight, fasting blood glucose and random blood glucose were measured weekly for the period of six weeks treatment. At the end of the six weeks, the animals were tested for fasting blood glucose, plasma insulin and executed through anesthesia. The levels of inflammatory cytokines, TNF-u03b1 and IL-6 were also measured.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION JIANG TANG 2016 compound C significantly (p < 0.05) lowered and normalized the blood glucose levels in HFD-fed diabetic SD rats as compared to control group. JT2016C proved to effectively lower the blood glucose levels as compared to the control group, positive drug, JT2016A, and JT2016B. The levels of inflammatory cytokines were also significantly (p < 0.05) brought down on treatment with JT2016C as to control group and other experimental groups, and improved insulin sensitivity significantly. CONCLUSIONThe present results establish the anti-diabetic effects of JT2016C in HFD-STZ induced diabetic SD rats. Thus, by lowering the blood glucose levels and inflammatory cytokine levels in experimental rats, JT2016 is shown to improve the insulin sensitivity and delay beta-cell failure in HFD-STZ induced diabetic SD rats. Therefore, this study can be used as the stepping stone to develop JT2016 as an effective anti-diabetes herbal drug for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus management, with further in vivo and invitro investigations.