AIM To determine whether diabetic care can be improved by combination of voglibose and gymnemic acid ( GA ), we compared the combinative and individual effects of voglibose and GA on maltose absorption in small intestine.METHODS The small intestine 30 cm long from 2 cm caudal ward Treitzs ligament of Wistar rat was used as an in situ loop, which was randomly perfused in recircular mode with maltose (10 mmol/L) with or without different dosages of voglibose and/or GA for an hour. To compare the time course, perfusion of 10 mmol/L maltose was repeated four times.Each time continued for 1 hour and separated by 30 minutes rinse. In the first time, lower dosages of GA (0.5g/ L) and/ or voglibose (2μmol/L) were contained except control.RESULTS Absorptive rate of maltose was the lowest in combinative group (P< 0.05, ANOVA),for example, the inhibition rate was about 37%during the first hour when 0.5g/L GA and 2μmol/L voglibose with 10mmol/L maltose were perfused in the loop. The onset time was shortened to 30 minutes and the effective duration was prolonged to 4 hours with the combination; therefore the total amount of maltose absorption during the effective duration was inhibited more significantly than that in the individual administration (P＜0.05, U test of Mann-Whitney). The effect of GA on absorptive barriers of the intestine played an important role in the combinative effects.CONCLUSION There are augmented effects of voglibose and GA. The management of diabetes mellitus can be improved by employing the combination.