The present study was undertaken to scientifically validate the antidiabetic activity of aqueous fruit extract of Trichosanthes dioica Roxb. (Family: Cucurbitaceae) which has been traditionally used for managing diabetes mellitus. This plant commonly known as “Sespadula” in English has not been explored scientifically so far for its glycemic potential except by our research group. The study was conducted with variable doses on normal, mild, and severe diabetics models, and several biochemical parameters including blood glucose level (BGL) were assessed. Maximum fall in BGL of 23.8% in normal rats and of 31.3% in mild diabetic rats was observed during their fasting blood glucose (FBG) and glucose tolerance test (GTT) with the dose of 1000？mg？kg？1. In severely diabetic animals after 4 weeks treatment with FBG, postprandial glucose, total cholesterol, and triglyceride levels were reduced by 28.7, 30.7, 57.2, and 18.5%, whereas high density lipoprotein, total protein, hemoglobin, and body weight were increased by 33.0, 36.7, 15.7 and 16.7%, respectively. Moreover, urine sugar was reduced from +4 to +1. Thus, the study scientifically validates the traditional use of T. diocia in diabetes management and could be developed as an effective oral agent for treating diabetes mellitus and complications associated with it. 1. Introduction Diabetes mellitus and its complications are becoming a global burden and have to be dealt with firmly. Hypercholesterolemia associated with this dreaded disease [1, 2] has been ranked as one of the greatest risk factors contributing to the prevalence and severity of coronary heart diseases [3]. World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended the development of oral hypoglycemic agents from medicinal plants [4] as herbal natural remedies to treat diabetes mellitus being cost-effective and safe [5]. Many plants have been explored scientifically and systematically and proved to be beneficial for the treatment of diabetes mellitus by our research group [6–10]. The present study is a further effort in the direction of developing a novel, oral antidiabetic agent coupled with antilipidemic efficacy of high potential with minimal or no side effects. Trichosanthes dioica (T. dioica) Roxb. (Family: Cucurbitaceae) is commonly known as “Sespadula” in English and “Parwal” in Hindi and is widely grown throughout India [11]. Its fruits are used as vegetable from the time immemorial and have also been proved as hypocholesterolemic and hypoglyceridimic in case of normal animals after shade drying and mixing in the food [12]. Recently its seeds and
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