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Diabetes mellitus is the most common endocrine disorder of man, whose devastating effect is increasing by the day and severity almost at epidemic level. This study was carried out to investigate the anti-diabetic activity of Ipomoea batatas (sweet potato) leaves extract and its effect on hepatic enzymes, total protein and albumin in alloxan induced diabetic rats. A total of twenty animals was divided into four experimental groups consisting of five animals each. The groups included a positive control, negative control, diabetic-treated Ipomoea batatas and Diabetic-treated tolbutamide for 14 days. All were fed normal diet ad libitum. After the treatment a significant reduction was observed in fasting serum glucose levels in the treated diabetics' rats. There was a significant (p<0.05) reduction of feed and water intakes by the animals after the treatment with Ipomoea batatas and tolbutamide. Treatment also improved the weight gain compared to untreated diabetic rats. Alkaline phosphatase activity in the diabetes untreated is significantly higher compared to that normal and treated animal and others treated with extract and tolbutamide. A Similar trend was observed in the Aspartate transaminase and Alanine transaminase activity, respectively, the reversed was observed in the albumin and total protein level, respectively. Hence, the result shows that the extract is not toxic and possesses anti-diabetic properties.

Cocos nucifera (Coconut) water is one of the world natural products with increasing scientific evidence that support its role in health and medicinal application. This study was undertaken to investigate the therapeutic potential of Cocos nucifera water on cadmium-induced toxicity in male rat. Sixty-four animals were randomly grouped into five, groups 3, 4, 5 (n=16) were exposed to 100, 200, and 300 ppm cadmium doses for 6 weeks in their drinking water as cadmium chloride. At the end of 6 weeks, eight from each group were sacrificed and the remaining was administered with 10 % coconut water for a week. Control animals (n=8; group 1) received distilled water and Cocos nucifera water (n=8; group 2) for the same six week period. Lipid profile analysis revealed that cadmiuminduction exhibited different dyslipidemia patterns. Significant dose-dependent hypocholesterolemia, hypotriacylglyceridemia and hypophospholipidemia characterized the effect of cadmium exposure at all doses while Cocos nucifera water treatment for a week reverse these effects by 4, 24 and 22 % in plasma and 16, 15 and 2 % in the erythrocytes respectively. The exposure to cadmium resulted in reduced cholesterol, triacylglyceride concentration in the brain and cholesterol, phospholipids concentrations in the hepatic compartments. Also, the exposure caused an increase in brain phospholipids and hepatic triacylglycerides concentrations. The administration of Cocos nucifera water significantly (p < 0.05) reverses these effects. Our findings indicate that although the cadmium-exposure at different doses resulted in down and upregulation of lipid profile, the administration of Cocos nucifera water was able to reverse the damage caused by cadmium-induced toxicity.

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