Abstract—The antihyperglycemic effect of Hibiscus taiwanensis (HT), was investigated in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats (STZ-diabetic rats) showing type-1 like diabetes mellitus. A glucose uptake test showed that HT exhibits an increase of glucose uptake activity in a concentration-related manner. HT was isolated a purified biological active compoundsyringaldehyde (1). Moreover, an effect by SYR was shown for insulin sensitivity in STZ-diabetic rats. The compound was found to increase insulin sensitivity in STZ-diabetic rats. These results suggest that HT can increase glucose utilization and insulin sensitivity to lower plasma glucose in diabetic rats.

Index Terms—Hibiscus taiwanensis, syringaldehyde antihyperglycemia, Taiwan’s native species.

Chia-Hsin Huang is with the Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, College of Medicine and Life Science, Chung Hwa University of Medical Technology Tainan, Taiwan (e-mail: hjsh1517@ gmail.com; tel.: 886-6-2674567).
Ming-Ying Wu is with Hercet Biotech Co. Ltd. Kaohsiung, Taiwan (e-mail: sfj.yinwu@gmail.com).
Juei-Tang Cheng is with Institute of Medical Science, College of Health Science, Chang Jung Christian University, Tainan, Taiwan (e-mail: jtcheng@mail.cjcu.edu.tw).

Cite:Chia-Hsin Huang, Shu-Mei Tsai, Yi-Ru Chen, Ming-Ying Wu, and Juei-Tang Cheng, "Dietary Hibiscus Taiwanensis Exerts Hypoglycemic in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats," International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 310-313, 2013.