Hypoglycemic effect of Hydrocotyle bonariensis Comm. Ex Lam. leaf extract in an experimental type 2 diabetes rat model

Hydrocotyle bonarensis Comm. Ex Lam. (Araliaceae) leaf water infusion is traditionally used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus (DM) in Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and other parts of Africa [ 1 ]. However, studies to validate the claims are not well known and hence, the purpose of the present study. The H. bonarensis leaf infusion was prepared and administered at 250 and 500 mg/kg body weight (bw) once daily to high-fat fed streptozotocin-induced diabetes rats for three (3) weeks. α-Amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities were employed to reveal the mechanism of hypoglycemic potential of the extract. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to detect the possible phytochemicals of the extract. In addition, in silico study based on molecular docking was conducted for possible interaction of the compounds with α-amylase (PDB ID: 1B2Y) and α-glucosidase (PDB ID: 3W37). The results revealed that, H. bonarensis leaf water extract showed significant (p