Antidiabetic and Toxicological Effects of the Tea Infusion of Summer Collection from Annona cherimola Miller Leaves

Annona cherimola Miller (Ac) is a plant used in Mexican traditional medicine for the treatment of diabetes. In this work, the tea infusion extracts obtained from 1.5 g of leaf powder from Ac collected in May (AcMa), June (AcJun), July (AcJul), and August (AcAu) were evaluated on streptozocin-induced diabetic (STID) mice and for subchronic toxicity in STID and non-diabetic (ND) mice. In addition, extracts were subjected to high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD). Results showed that the tea infusion extract of the sample collected in August (AcAu) exhibited the most significant antihyperglycemic activity during all acute assays. The analysis of the extracts (AcMa, AcJu, AcJul, and AcAu) by HPLC-DAD revealed that flavonoid glycosides, rutin, narcissin, and nicotiflorin were the major components. In addition, the sample AcAu contained the best concentration of flavonoids. In the case of subchronic oral toxicity, the AcAu sample did not cause mortality in STID mice, and histopathological analysis revealed significant improvement in the changes associated with diabetes in the liver and kidneys. These findings suggest that the Ac leaves collected in August may be a source of flavonoids such as rutin, with antidiabetic potential. In addition, these findings support the use of Ac to treat diabetes in traditional medicine.