Hypoglycaemic Effect of Lycopene in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Wistar Rats
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Date
2015-03-31
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Publisher
British Journal of Medicine & Medical Research
Abstract
Aim: The study was designed to investigate the hypoglycaemic potential of lycopene in
streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic Wistar rats.
Methodology: To achieve this, a total of thirty (30) adult Wistar rats of both sexes were used. The
animals were made diabetic by single intraperitoneal injection of freshly prepared (60 mg/kg body
weight) of STZ. Diabetes was confirmed by the presence of high blood glucose ≥ 200 after 72 hr.
Diabetic animals were divided into six (6) groups (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) comprising five animals each.
Animals in Group 1 (Diabetic control) and Group 2 (Normal control) received 0.5 ml of olive oil,
while those in groups 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 were administered 10, 20, 40 and 2 mg/kg b w of lycopene
and glibenclamide respectively orally once daily for a period of four weeks. After the last day of
treatments, all animals were sacrificed and blood samples collected and the serum separated for
determination of serum insulin concentration. The liver tissue was excised and homogenized in
equivalent volumes of phosphate buffer for the determination of hepatic glucokinase enzyme
activity.
Results: The results obtained showed that lycopene at all doses significantly (P < 0.05) decreased
the blood glucose concentration steadily from (431.4±48.84 mg/dL) to (171.1±7.65, 118.4±1.97
and 100.8±6.89 mg/dL) after four weeks of treatment. The Serum insulin level was increased from
(3.02±0.24 μIU/mL) to (4.02±0.70, 3.96±1.41 and 5.06±0.96 μIU/mL), but was not significant
(P>0.05), when compared with diabetic control animals. The activity of hepatic glucokinase was
significantly (P<0.05) increased from (8.78±1.11 ng/mL) to (11.96±0.54, 14.23±0.88 and
15.78±0.27 ng/mL), when compared with diabetic control group.
Conclusion: It is therefore, suggested that antidiabetic-activity may be linked to enhanced
glucokinase enzyme activity and not due to increased serum insulin level as the elevation was not
statistically significant (P > 0.05) when compared with the diabetic control group. It is
recommended that, lycopene may be used as a dietary component in controlling sustained
hyperglycaemia in diabetes.
Description
Ejike Daniel Eze. Department of Physiology, Kampala International University
Keywords
Diabetes mellitus, Lycopene, Hypoglycaemia, Insulin, Rats, Glucokinase