Calabash (Lagenaria siceraria) potency to ameliorate hyperglycemia and oxidative stress in diabetes

[Display omitted] •Calabash (Lagenaria siceraria) fruit aqueous reduced hyperglycemia.•L. siceraria fruit extracts did not produce hypoglycemia.•L. siceraria fruit aqueous extract could ameliorate oxidative stress.•Protocatechuic acid and luteolin-7-glucoside were detected in L. siceraria fruit. Calabash fruit is traditionally used as an antidiabetic remedy in the Kurdistan region. Different extracts (400 mg/kg) were investigated for antihyperglycemic potency on normal and alloxan-induced diabetic mice. The significant potency exhibited by the aqueous extract produced a decrease in fasting blood glucose level (52.685%, P ≤ 0.05) in diabetic mice with no apparent effect using extracts in the normoglycemic model. The antihyperglycemic extract was evaluated for in vitro antidiabetic efficacy based on HepG2 cells, and the 2-NDBG indicator showed a significant glucose uptake (164.87%, P ≤ 0.05), whereas the in vitro antioxidant study showed high ABTS free radical scavenging activity (EC50 64.4 ± 2.12 µg/mL). The extract phytochemical study recorded a high phenolic content with the identification of two compounds, protocatechuic acid, and luteolin-7-glucoside, using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The results revealed the benefits of the fruit in the reduction of hyperglycemia and attenuating oxidative stress associated with diabetes.