Isolation of Kaempferol, Acute Toxicity Evaluation and Antidiabetic Activity of Methanol Leaf Extract of Faidherbia albida on Alloxan-Induced Diabetic Rats

Abstract

This study aimed at the isolation of 3,5,7,4’-tetrahydroxyflavone (Kaempferol), from the methanol extract of Faidherbia albida leaf, determine the acute toxicity (LD50) and antidiabetic efficacy of the extract on alloxan-induced diabetic Wistar rats. The methanol extract was screened for phytochemical and the flavone was isolated by column chromatography on silica gel and Sephadex LH20 via elution with chloroform and ethyl acetate in proportions of increasing polarity as well as methanol respectively. A solvent system of chloroform, methanol and water (7:3:1) was used to preparatively isolated the encoded Compound D. The structure of the compound was elucidated using Fourier Transform Infrared (IR) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopic (NMR) techniques. The acute toxicity study showed that the i.p median lethal dose is 3807.8mg/kg and the extract exhibited promising antidiabetic effect against alloxan induced diabetes with protections of 73.3%, 68.1% and 70.8% at doses of 200mg/kg, 400mg/kg and 800 mg/kg, which were higher than insulin (63.1%) at 0.1µg/kg. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of isolation of kaempferol from Faidherbia albida leaf. This study has also scientific validated the folkloric use of the plant for the treatment of diabetes.