Many herbal products have been used to control blood glucose level and minimize complications of diabetes mellitus. However, the feasibility of using such herbal product has been hindered due to the lower stability of their extracts and patients incompliance.
Objective: An optimized fast disintegrating tablet preparation of spray dried aqueous extract of poly herbal blend has been formulated to maximize the therapeutic activity of such herbal extract.
Methods: different ratios of superdisintegrants were evaluated in terms of reducing disintegration time and wetting time of the prepared formulations. The potential of the optimized formula in reducing blood glucose level and promoting wound healing in STZ-induced diabetic rats was determined.
Key finding: Oral administration of the optimized formula (F6) had significant superior effect in reducing blood glucose level and promoting wound healing of diabetic rats compared receiving the aqueous extract of the herbal blend (P<0.05, p<0.01, respectively). That may be attributed to the enhanced stability and the accurate dosing of such solid dosage form. In addition, no remarkable toxic manifestations or histologic changes were observed in treated animals.
Conclusion: These findings uncover the potential of the formulated dosage form in enhancing the hypoglycemic and wound healing activity of the herbal extract.