Phytotherapy are frequently less toxic and free from the side effects, comparing with synthetic drugs. Hence, the present study was designed to investigate the potential use of crude water extract of Morus alba leaves on the both the incidence of congenital skeletal malformations of pups maternally subjected to either diabetes and / or hypercholesterolemia, as well as post protection with Morus alba extract. The present study revealed that pups maternally subjected to either diabetes and / or hypercholesterolemia exhibited various grades of congenital malformations and highly detected in either hypercholesterolemic alone or in combination with diabetes. The gross morphological abnormalities were deformities of fore- & hind limb regions, kinky tail, malformed ear pinna, pelvic kidney, edematous skin and malformed anterior and posterior fontannelles. Delayed ossification, as well decreased ossification centers were detected in the applied experimental groups, with higher susceptibility in combined diabetes and hypercholesterolemia. On the other hand, protection of the experimental diseased groups by the administration of watery Morus alba extract led to reduction in the incidence of congenital abnormalities and resoluted the dramatic effects of the diseased condition, however the protection led to improvement to some extent but was still below the normal level. Finally, the present data indicated that experimental maternal diabetes alone or in combination with hypercholesterolemia led to alterations of organogenesis and increased the incidence of growth deformity and retarded ossification of the pups skeleton. However, protection with Morus alba restored the growth pattern structure and skeleton bone formation and these may be attributed to the hypoglycaemic, antihypercholesterolemic and antioxidative potential of flavenoids, the major components of the plant extract.
Key words: Hypercholersterolemia, Diabetes, Morus alba L, pups, congenital malformation, skeletal growth
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