Introduction:

The prevalence of diabetes type 2 is increasing worldwide, thus the search of novel alternative therapies is needed. According to their traditional use, we selected five Bolivian plants Chenopodium quinoa (CQ) Amaranthus caudatus (AC), Chenopodium pallidicaule (CP), Lupinus mutabilis (LM) and Smallanthus sonchifolius (SS) that are traditionally used to control glycemia.

Methods:

The effect of a single oral administration of Ethanolic (EtOH), hydro-ethanolic (EtOH70) and aqueous (Aq) extracts from all plant species were tested for their effect on blood glucose in non-fasted mice and during the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). The effect on insulin secretion was evaluated in mice pancreatic islets.

Results:

EtOH70 extracts of all the plants showed glucose-reducing effect at the highest dose evaluated (2000 mg/kg b.w.). EtOH70 extracts improved the glucose tolerance evaluated by the OGTT in mice fasted for 12 hours. The extracts have different effects on glucose homeostasis since just extracts of AC, LM and CQ but not CP and SS increased insulin secretion as shown on mice pancreatic islets. The phytochemical qualitative characterization of EtOH70 extracts detected phenolic acids and flavonoids in AC, CP and CQ; alkaloids in LM and anthocyanidins in SS. None of EtOH70 extracts tested showed in vitro or in vivo acute toxicity at concentrations where they exhibit glucose lowering effects.

Conclusions:

We report here that extracts from AC, CQ, CP, LM and SS exhibit glucose lowering effect while just AC, CQ and LM stimulate directly the insulin secretion.

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