Uses of African Plants and Associated Indigenous Knowledge for the Management of Diabetes Mellitus

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript entitled "Uses of African plants and associated indigenous knowledge for the management of diabetes mellitus" is very interesting espacially in terms of Africa and the flora in that region. The comments and suggestions regarding this manuscript is as follows. 

1. In introduction, authors, in First and second paragraph is illustrating a lot about non-communicable diseases that do not reflect the title. I would recommend focusing on diabetes Mellitus only rather than NCS. The first two paragraphs should be revised. 

2. References are given sometimes very far after 2-3 sentences. Each sentence should be referenced rather than self-observation and results. 

3. 4th paragraph, the sense of the sentence needs to be corrected like "this data is expected to rise to 643 million and 783 82 million people by 2030 and 2045, respectively (IDF, 2021) if urgent measures are not taken 83 to curtail its ill-health effects" should be corrected to "if urgent measures are not taken 83 to curtail its ill-health effects,this data is expected to rise to 643 million and 783 82 million people by 2030 and 2045, respectively (IDF, 2021).

4. 4th paragraph, needs serious revision, line 91-93, "The disease accounted for 91 about 416 thousand deaths in 2021 [16]." Which disease? is the author is talking about metabolic disorders or diabetes? Sense is not clear for this sentences. Meanwhile the next sentence is also should be corrected accroding to previous comment. 

5. Line 98, need citation. 

6. Introduction is too long, I would suggest to create seperate section for the prevalence and global burden. 

7. Line 111. Grammatical mistake "in" should be corrected.

8. Line 240, "As of 2020, ten (10) different assays have" these are not the assays these are the effects of active compounds on these biological processes that are keenly involved in the regulation of glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity. Please explain. how these assays are used to ascertain the potency of medicinal plants. 

9. How about obesity, are there any medicinal plants that are useful to prevent/reduce the obesity? Because obesity is the hallmark of DM. 

10. Line 247, 249, 254,316 needs citations.

11. Line 339, the abbreviation should be provided.

12. How medicinal plants affect adipose tissue function in obesity and the normal state as adipose tissue is one of the key metabolic tissues involved in the regulation of glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity.

 

 

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The quality of English is some how ok but revision is needed. There are a lot of places where the sense of the sentence is not correct. 

spelling mistakes and abbreviations are not consistent. 

Author Response

 

"Please see the attachment."

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Abstract: The abstract is well-structured and provide a summary of the research focus including methodology, key findings, and concluding insights. It highlights the potential of Indigenous Knowledge and African medicinal plants in managing diabetes while acknowledging the need for clinical validation.

Introduction: The introduction provides an overview of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), particularly focusing on diabetes mellitus (DM) and its global impact. However, there are few aspects of the introduction that could be improved for clarity and flow.

Results and Discussions: These sections are good but there some key points that need to be addressed or improved:

1. The authors should highlight case studies where traditional diagnostic methods are integrated with modern medical practices which could provide a balanced perspective.
2. The authors should acknowledge and discuss the limitations of traditional diagnostic methods, such as the potential for misdiagnosis, the inability to detect DM at early stages, etc….
3. The authors should propose ways to improve the traditional diagnostic methods using modern scientific knowledge and technology which could provide a forward-looking perspective.

Author Response

"Please see the attachment."

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Authors have addressed almost points. But, still there are many things that I find and written here as follows:

1. In introduction, The abbreviation of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is not consistent. Please make it consistent, First full name and then followed by the abbreviation only. In many places in introduction I found this mistake like line 49, 53, 59 etc. 

2. Section 4 should be divided into sub-sections

like Enzyme inhibitory potential of African medicinal plants, DPP-IV inhibitory potential of African medicinal plants, PTP 1B inhibitory potential of African medicinal plants, effect of African medicinal plants on PPARs, the effect of African medicinal plants on metabolic tissues including muscle, liver and adipose tissue. 

Just reorganize the manuscript. 

3. What is PTP 1B? Please describe full name and abbreviation. 

4.  What is DPP-IV? Please describe full name and abbreviation. 

5. What are PPARs? Please describe the full name and abbreviation. 

6. Lines 353-355 need to be corrected. How does fat tissue contribute to insulin resistance? impaired adipose tissue function leads to increased fat accumulation in the adipocytes thereby inducing adipocyte hypertrophy and insulin resistance. 

The sentence fat accumuation in the tissue induces insulin sensitivity. needs to be corrected and explained well. 

 7. Reference 101: Please add more literature from this paper. It is important to know that medicinal plants increase adiponectin and Glut4. These are the key molecules in regulating glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity. 

8. Please revise the references because some contain DOI addresses and others do not. 

Please strictly, adhere to the instructions for the authors of this journal. 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

English language is satisfactory but needs to be consistent with the abbreviations. 

Author Response

 "Please see the attachment." 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx