Methods:

Collection of medicinal plant

Berberis lycium Royle plant was collected from Chinari, District Jhelum valley, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. Root bark was separated and washed with distilled water. Shade dried root bark was crushed into fine powder.

Preparation of plant extract

Ten gram of powder was boiled with 100 ml distilled water. After cooling extract (BLR extract) was filtered using filter paper and concentrated using rotary evaporator. Plants extract was dried in vacuum oven at 40°C and finally used for evaluation of antidiabetic activity.

Phytochemical Screening

The aqueous extract of BLR root bark was screened out for the presence of different phytochemicals.
Chemicals and Drugs: Glibenclamide was purchased from a local drug store and alloxan (Sigma Aldrich, USA) from chemical center Anarkali, Lahore.

In Vitro antidiabetic activity

α-amylase inhibition assay was completed using the DNSA method (Miller, 1959) and α glucosidase inhibition activity method of Kim et al., (2005) with some modification.

In vivo antidiabetic activity

Animal Management

Mice of various groups were kept in polypropylene cages. Normal laboratory pellet feed as well as drinking water ad libitum was provided to mice. Animal house temperature was retained at 22 ± 3 °C. 12 h light/12 h dark cycle was retained. Oral feeding needle (18-gauge) was used for oral dosing.