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In the present study, the effects of ethanolic root extract of Codariocalyx motorius (CMRt) on blood glucose, insulin, and carbohydrate metabolic enzymes were studied in experimental diabetic rats. Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats received CMRt orally at the doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg bw daily for 30 days. CMRt treatment showed decrease in blood glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin with improved serum insulin levels. We observed increase in carbohydrate metabolizing enzymes including hexokinase, glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase and glycogen content in liver of CMRt-treated rats with reduction in the levels of glucose-6-phosphatase and fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase. Further, immunohistochemical staining of insulin showed preservation of pancreatic β-cells in CMRt-treated diabetic rats. RP-HPLC analysis indicated the presence of chlorogenic acid, myricetin, quercetin and gallic acid. Hence, this study clearly demonstrates the antidiabetic effect of CMRt by normalizing the key enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism and restoring the functions of pancreas thus proving its traditional value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In most putative asexual fungi analysed through population genetic studies, recombination has been detected. However, the mechanism by which it is achieved is still not known. A parasexual cycle is known to occur in asexual fungi but there is no evidence, as yet, of its prevalence in natural populations. This study was undertaken to investigate the possibility of a parasexual cycle mediating recombination in the mitosporic fungus Nomuraea rileyi. The genotypic diversity in isolates sampled from an epizootic population from South India was studied through AFLP. The AFLP data were subjected to analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) and cluster analysis. Great genetic variation was observed in the population including the isolates from a single insect. To assess the occurrence of recombination in the population, single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) of partial regions of two mitochondrial (mt) genes (rRNA genes of LSU and SSU) and a nuclear gene (β tubulin) was performed. The SSCP data were analysed using MP, the tree length permutation test, and multilocus analysis. Recombination was inferred from the SSCP analysis. The occurrence of isolates with diverse genotypes in a single insect; the fact that fungi multiply as hyphal bodies (cell wall-less) in the insect haemolymph; and the inference of recombination in mitochondrial genes (suggesting cytomixis), all indicate that recombination is accomplished by fusion of hyphal bodies of different isolates infecting the insect. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]