On The Relative Potency of Ossame Supplement on Blood Sugar Level of Albino Rats

The effect of Melegueta on glucose level was investigated in male albino rats. The rats were induced with Aloxan and the glucose levels were monitored for 24hours. In order to determine the effect Aframomum Melegueta , the rats were induced with 0.01mg/kg and 0.1mg/kg of both the test and standard preparation. The change in glucose level was recorded. The relative potency (p) is defined as the ratio of a dose of the test preparation to such a dose of the standard preparation that produces the same average response. The mean square for preparations in this assay was very large compares to the mean square for error. This large difference in mean responses will decrease the precision of potency estimation. The estimated relative potency R = 0.00 was contrary to p > 0.


Introduction
The blood sugar concentration is the amount of glucose present in the blood of human or animal. The body naturally regulates blood glucose levels as part of metabolic homeostasis. With some exceptions, glucose is the primary source of energy for the body's cell and blood lipoids (in the form of fats and oils) are primarily a compact energy store. Glucose is transported from the intestine or liver to body cells via the blood stream and is made available for cell absorption via the hormone insulin. Glucose level are usually lowest in the morning before the first meal of the day (termed the fasting level) and rise after meals for an hour or two by a few millimolar. Blood sugar levels outside the normal range may be an indication of medical condition. A persistently high level is referred to as hyperglycemia, while low levels are referred to hyperglycemia.
Grain of paradise (Aframomum Melegueta) also known as Guinea pepper or Alligator pepper is a member of the Zingiberaceae family native to West Africa. It is an herbaceous perennial plant that grows up to 1.5 meters height, with purple flowers that develop into 5 or 7 cm long pods containing small, reddish-brown aromatic and pungent seeds. The stem at times can be short and usually shows signs of scars and fallen leaves. The fruits contain numerous, small, golden red-brown seeds. The seeds are used in West Africa as a remedy for variety of ailments such as stomachache, snake bite; diarrhea and they have reported anti-inflammatory properties.

Materials and Methods
In this study we used 42 male albino rats for the experiment, and they were divided into 4 groups.

1) Group 1 (treatment group):
Aloxan (a drug that raise the glucose levels of rats) was induced into 12 rats assigned in this group and after they received treatment only from the test preparation.

2) Group 2 (standard treatment):
Aloxan was induced into these group, they were later treated using the standard preparation only.

3) Group 3 (diabetic control):
The animals here were induced with Aloxan, none of the treatment was given to them.

4) Group 4 (control)
: there were 6 animals in this group, none of them received a treatment of either standard or test preparation and Aloxan was not induced in them There were 2 doses used in his assay (0.1mg/kg and 0.01mg/ kg). The animals in group 1 to 3 were further divided into 3 groups.
The first 6 in group 1 received 0.01mg/kg of the test preparation and the remaining 6 received 0.1mg/kg. Also, the first 6 in group 2 received 0.01mg/kg of the test preparation remaining 6 received 0.1mg/kg of the standard preparation. The weights of the animals in all the groups were first ascertain before and after inducing Alloxan into the animals, also their glucose level was measured before and after the induction. The glucose levels were being checked to know when it will raise to 100mg/kg and above. The standard treatment was given to groups 2 and the test preparation to group 1. After this induction their glucose levels were checked again after 24 hours.
The study employed the use of biological assay. Biological assay is routinely used to estimate what is commonly known as the relative strength of a standard drug to that of one or more experimental drug. In this study we used parallels line assay (the symmetrical

Potency Estimation
The relative potency is the ratio of the 2 doses that express the biological activity of a sample preparation compared to a standard preparation. Let Z S and Z t denote the doses of the standard and test preparation respectively, such that each of them produces a preassigned response in some living organism. Then s t Z P Z = is called the relative potency of the rest preparation. If 1 p > , it shows that a smaller dose of the test preparation produce as much response as the relatively larger dose of the standard preparation and hence potency of the test preparation is greater than that of the standard preparation. If 1 p < , it shows that the potency of the test preparation is smaller than that of the standard preparation.   The relative potency estimator (R) was computed to be 0.00 (Table 3).