No abstract

Little is known about the protective effects of carvacrol on the symptoms of streptozotocin induced diabetes in rats. Hence, this present study was designed to evaluate the protective effect of the strong antioxidant, carvacrol, on the symptoms of streptozotocin induced diabetes in rats. Carvacrol at the doses of 25 and 50 mg/kg body weight were orally administered to diabetic rats for a period of 7 days after the onset of diabetes. Food-water intake and body weight changes were daily recorded. Biochemical parameters such as serum glucose, insulin, total cholesterol, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase were measured. Although treatment of diabetic rats with oral administration of carvacrol resulted in a slight reduction in serum glucose level and significant reduction in serum total cholesterol, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase in comparison with diabetic control rats, there were no significant differences in serum insulin levels, food-water intake values and body weight changes. Despite the inadequacy of carvacrol on diabetes treatments, it was determined to have at least a partially protective role on liver enzymes.

There is a very little information about the protective effect of lycopene (LYC) against hepatic ischemia–reperfusion injury. The present study was designed to examine the possible protective effect of the strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent, LYC, on hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury. For this purpose, rats were subjected to 45 min of hepatic ischemia followed by 60 min of reperfusion period. LYC at the doses of 2.5 and 5 mg/kg body weight (bw) were injected intraperitoneally, 60 min prior to ischemia. Upon sacrification, hepatic tissue samples were used for the measurement of catalase (CAT) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. Also, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were assayed in serum samples. As a result of the use of LYC at the doses of 2.5 and 5 mg/kg bw; while improvements of the ALT, AST, LDH and MDA values were partial and dose-dependent, the improvement of CAT activity was total and dose-independent (p < 0.05). Our findings suggest that LYC has a protective effect against ischemia/reperfusion injury on the liver.

The results of this study have demonstrated that SM significantly prevents renal I/R injury-induced renal tubular changes in the rat. SM in 50 mg/kg was observed to be sufficient to significantly prevent renal tubular necrosis. Further, to our literature knowledge, this is the first specific study to demonstrate the preventive effect of SM on renal I/R injury.

This study reports the hypoglycemic effects of the crude exopolysaccharide (EPS) produced from submerged mycelial culture of Lentinus strigosus (Schwein.) Fr. (Family Polyporaceae) in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. In a dose-dependent study, diabetic rats were treated with EPS at doses of 50-150 mg/kg of body weight for 7 days. Serum glucose and plasma insulin levels were measured in normal, STZ-induced diabetic, and EPS-treated diabetic rats. Following oral administration of EPS dosages for 7 days, the serum glucose levels in the STZ-induced diabetic rats were reduced up to 21.1% at the dose of 150 mg/kg of body weight. The results revealed that orally administered L. strigosus EPS, at the dose of 150 mg/kg, exhibited a considerable hypoglycemic effect in STZ-induced diabetic rats. Plasma insulin levels of STZ-induced diabetic rats decreased as compared to control group rats (P < .05). Although insulin levels slightly increased in the EPS-treated groups the increase was not statistically significant. The hypoglycemic potential of the EPS was further supported by histological observations of pancreatic islets of Langerhans.