Blighia sapida (BS) is a medicinal plant used folklorically in the treatment of diabetes, but it is not known whether it could inhibit mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis and thus mitigate the excessive tissue wastage that is a hallmark of diabetes. This study therefore intended to evaluate antihyperglycemic and inhibitory effect of methanol leave extract of Blighia sapida (MEBS) on mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) pore opening in normal and streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rat.

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... betes was induced with a single intraperitoneal administration of 60 mg/kg streptozotocin (STZ). Forty-five male (Wistar strain) rats were used in this study. The first set of animals (25 rats) were equally divided into five groups as follows; control, 50, 100, 200 and 400 MEBS mg/kg. The second set (20 rats) was also divided in to four groups as follows; control, MEBS (100 mg/kg), STZ (60mg/kg), STZ+MEBS and STZ+Glibenclamide (5mg/kg). The treatment was by oral administration for 28 days. The results show that varying doses (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg) of MEBS did not induce MPT pore opening, However, in the streptozotocin-induced diabetic untreated rats, there was opening of the MPT pore which was significantly reversed by co-administration with MEBS. MEBS also significantly reversed the STZ-induced ATPase activity, lowered the elevated blood glucose level, mitigated lipid peroxidation, inhibited cytochrome c release and restored hepatic and pancreatic damage in the diabetic untreated rats. These findings suggest that Blighia sapida contains bioactive agents that have the potential to inhibit mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis and protect against streptozotocin-induced diabetes in rats.