Evaluation of Medicago sativa L. sprouts as antihyperlipidemic and antihyperglycemic agent.

Medicago sativa L. (Alfalfa) is traditionally used to treat diabetes. This study was designed to investigate the potential antihyperlipidemic and antihyperglycemic activity of M. sativa sprouts in streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetes via i.p. injection of 55 mg/kg of STZ. Experimental animals were divided into the following groups: GP1 (normal), GP2 (STZ-hyperlipidemic), GP3 (rouvastatin), GP4 (metformin), GP 5-9 (diabetic treated with methanolic, petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and butanol extracts). The administration of the total methanolic extract (500 mg/kg), the petroleum ether (32.5mg) and butanol fractions (60 mg) for 4 weeks significantly decreased (p<0.05) triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) in comparison to rouvastatin. Petroleum ether fraction proved to exhibit the best activity as antihyperlipidemic agent (12.23%). On the other hand, ethyl acetate fraction retained the best activity (vs. metformin) as antihyperglycemic agent. Histopathological evidences on liver, pancreas and spleen were in agreement with the above mentioned results. Purification, characterization, and identification of isolated compounds from the active fractions afforded 9 compounds: β-sitosterol and stigmasterol from the petroleum ether fraction; 10-hydroxy-coumestrol, apigenin, genistein, p-hydroxy-benzoic-acid, 7, 4'- dihydroxyflavone, quercetin-3-glucoside and sissotrin from the ethyl acetate fraction.