Estimation of the Efficacy of Oral Administration of Egyptian Artemisia herba-alba Extract in Combating Thyroid Dysfunction in Diabetic Male Rats

Abstract

Herbal treatments occupy a wide range of medical attempts to treat diabetes, and among these is Artemisia herba-alba (AHA) has impressive botanical vegetation in Egypt. For a long time, Artemisia herba-alba has been used in traditional medicine as a tonic, diuretic, anthelmintic, and depurative as a result of the occurrence of numerous phytochemical components, such as phenols and flavonoids. Thus, the current study aims to estimate of thyroid efficacy of oral administration of Egyptian AHA. For this purpose, 45 albino rats (male) were distributed into three groups (fifteen rats per group), group 1; control group, group 2; diabetic, group 3; protective group. Subsequently, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), triiodothyronine (T3), and thyroxin-binding globulin (T4) were investigated. Moreover, total flavonoid content (TFC) and total phenolic content (TPC), qualitative screening analyses, and Gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) were performed. Biochemical investigations, the results showed a slight improvement of T3 in group 3 compared to group 2, while TSH and T4 of group 3 showed an improvement compared to group 2. Furthermore, the qualitative analyses of AHA extract showed the occurrence of flavonoids, alkaloids, reducing sugar, saponins, and tannins. However, the quantitative analyses revealed TPC and TFC values to be 444.15, 8.18, mg GA/g DW, and mg QE/g DW, respectively. GC-MS exhibited the existence of varied bioactive compounds, while the main chemical constituents were Undecane (5.86%), Hexane, 2,5-dimethoxy-2,5-dimethyl (7.32%), trans-Arbusculone (8.54%), (2β,3β,5β)- 2,3,14-trihydroxy-7-ene-6,17-dione, Androst-(8.81%), 4β-Methylandrostane2,3-diol-1,17-dione (5.78%). In conclusion, our results suggested a potent protective effect of Artemisia herba-alba, which may be considered as anti-inflammatory agent.