Journal of

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a disorder caused by abnormal insulin secretion and is diagnosed by the presence of hyperglycemia. Insulin is one of the drugs used by diabetics patients .This drug also like other drugs has side effects, but in this way using herbal medicine is more effective. This study is to determine the effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Lactuca serriola on blood glucose in Streptozotocin (STZ)- induced diabetic male rats.

Methods: In study of 30 rats with an average weight of 200-230 g were divided into 5 groups consisted of 6 rats in each group comprised control, diabetic control and 3 groups treated orally with extract of Lactuca serriola. Diabetes was induced by STZ injection (IP) at a dose of 50mg/kg. The doses of 250,350 and 450 mg/kg of extract were injected intraperitoneally during 6 weeks (40 days). The data were analyzed by one way variance analysis and Tukey’s test using SPSS Version 17 (p<0.05).

Results: This research showed that the dosage of 250 mg/kg of extract of Lactuca serriola had less effect on blood sugar, and the dosage of 450 mg/kg of Lactuca serriola had a greater influence on blood sugar levels at different days, but dosage of 350 mg/kg  and dose of 450 mg/kg only could more significantly decrease the level of blood sugar.

Conclusion: According the results of the study, the hydroalcolic extract of Lactuca serriola had the hypoglycemic effects on diabetic male rats  and it can be helpful for drug production in the control of Lactuca serriola. This drug consists of natural and synthetic substances: flavonoid, Alkaloid and Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid.