Alocasia macrorrhizos (L.) (Araceae), a coarse and erect plant that is widely cultivated to be eaten as a vegetable throughout Bangladesh, has been reported to possess a number of medicinal properties. | Turk J Biol 36 (2012) 574-579 © TÜBİTAK doi: Antihyperglycemic, antioxidant, and cytotoxic activities of Alocasia macrorrhizos (L.) rhizome extract Md. Masudur RAHMAN1, Md. Aslam HOSSAIN2, Saiful Alam SIDDIQUE1, Kaishar Parvej BIPLAB1, Md. Helal UDDIN1 1 2 Department of Pharmacy, International Islamic University Chittagong, Chittagong 4203 - BANGLADESH Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000 - BANGLADESH Received: ● Accepted: Abstract: Alocasia macrorrhizos (L.) (Araceae), a coarse and erect plant that is widely cultivated to be eaten as a vegetable throughout Bangladesh, has been reported to possess a number of medicinal properties. The antihyperglycemic, antioxidant, and cytotoxic effects of the methanol extract of A. macrorrhizos rhizomes were investigated. The extract was given at a single dose (250 and 500 mg/kg) in alloxan-induced hyperglycemic mice. The extract at 500 mg/kg produced a significant (P < ) decrease in the blood glucose level () at 8 h of treatment when compared with the control and was comparable with the reference drug, metformin. The extract was also subjected to antioxidant potentiality and brine shrimp lethality bioassays. The IC50 value of the extract was μg/mL and the LC50 was μg/mL. Key words: Antihyperglycemic, alloxan, Alocasia macrorrhizos, antioxidant activity, cytotoxicity, rhizome Introduction Diabetes mellitus is the seventh leading cause of death among high-income countries; it is characterized by high levels of blood glucose resulting from defects in insulin production (1). Statistical projection suggests that India, China, and the United States will have the highest number of people with diabetes (2) and Bangladesh will have the seventh highest number of diabetics in the world by 2030 (3,4). The increasing worldwide incidence of diabetes mellitus in adults constitutes a significant impact on the health,
