<p>This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.</p> <p>Fenugreek (<italic>Trigonella foenum-graecum</italic> L. seed) is a
food with traditional medicinal use in diabetes.
Beneficial effects have been demonstrated in diabetic
animals and both insulin-dependent and
non-insulin-dependent diabetic subjects. Effects
of a lipid extract A, crude ethanolic extract B, further
sub-fractions of B (saponin-free C, saponin D
and sapogenin E) and a gum fibre fraction F on
intestinal sodium-dependent glucose uptake were
investigated <italic>in vitro</italic> using rabbit intestinal brush
border membrane vesicles. All fractions except A
inhibited glucose-uptake at 0.33 and/or 3.3mg/mL
(<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001). Greatest inhibition was observed with
fractions D and E. Diosgenin and trigonelline
(compounds reported in fenugreek)also inhibited
glucose-uptake (<sup>50</sup>C values approximately 3mg/
ml, equivalent to 8mM and 19mM respectively)
but did not account for the activity of the
crude extracts. Fenugreek extracts had no effect
on basal levels of glycogen phosphorylase a
(HGPa) activity in rat hepatocyte suspensions.
However fractions C and E caused a marginal
but statistically significant inhibition (18.9 and
15.1% respectively, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05) of glucagon induction
of this enzyme suggesting a glucagon-antagonist
effect. Diosgenin (1.65mg/ml; 4mM) inhibited
glucagon-induced HGPa activity by 20% (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05),
and was more effective than trigonelline (non
significant inhibition of 9.4% at 1.65mg/ml,
10mM).</p>
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Int J Exp Diabetes Res. 2001; 2(2):91-99