Hypoglycemic, Hypolipidemic and Antibacterial Activity of Ficus racemosa Fruit Extract

Background: Ficus racemosa, popularly known as the fig or cluster fig, is a traditional plant in the Moraceae family with various ethnomedical uses. However, the information of medicinal values of Bangladeshi grown Ficus racemosa fruit extracts using different solvent systems is still lacking in the literature. Therefore, the present study was carried out to enrich the information of the medicinal property of Ficus racemosa fruit extract in terms of hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic and antibacterial activity.

Methods: Methanol, ethanol, chloroform, n-hexane and petroleum ether solvents were used to obtain five different types of mature Ficus racemosa fruit extract by Soxhlet extraction process. Antibacterial activity of each extract was determined by disc diffusion method whereas ethanol extract was tested to evaluate its hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic activity by using alloxan-induced diabetic mice model.

Results: At the end of 21 days of treatment, ethanol extract decreased the blood glucose level of diabetic mice by approximately 41% and 50% at doses 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight, respectively, whereas at the same doses total cholesterol levels were decreased by approximately 16% and 17%, LDL reduced by 28% and 29%, HDL increased by 41% and 67% compared to the diabetic control group. The levels of SGPT, SGOT and CRP were also significantly (P<0.05 to P<0.001) reduced by administration of same doses of ethanol extract. At a concentration of 600 µg/disc, strong antibacterial activity was displayed by methanol, ethanol and petroleum ether extract against most of the tested bacteria with the zone of inhibition of 13 to 17 mm.

Conclusion: The present study revealed strong anti-diabetic and antibacterial activity of the fig extract and therefore suggested that this fruit may play a potential role in the treatment of diabetes mellitus and various bacterial infections.