No abstract

Vitamin B12 deficiency is widely prevalent in women of childbearing age, especially in developing countries. In the present study, through dietary restriction, we have established mouse models of severe and moderate vitamin B12 deficiencies to elucidate the impact on body composition, biochemical parameters, and reproductive performance. Female weanling C57BL/6 mice were fed for 4 weeks: (a) control AIN-76A diet, (b) vitamin B12-restricted AIN-76A diet with pectin as dietary fiber (severe deficiency group, as pectin inhibits vitamin B12 absorption), or (c) vitamin B12-restricted AIN-76A diet with cellulose as dietary fiber (moderate deficiency group as cellulose does not interfere with vitamin B12 absorption). After confirming deficiency, the mice were mated with male colony mice and maintained on their respective diets throughout pregnancy, lactation, and thereafter till 12 weeks. Severe vitamin B12 deficiency increased body fat% significantly, induced adiposity and altered lipid profile. Pregnant dams of both the deficient groups developed anemia. Severe vitamin B12 deficiency decreased the percentage of conception and litter size, pups were small-for-gestational-age and had significantly lower body weight at birth as well as weaning. Most of the offspring born to severely deficient dams died within 24 h of birth. Stress markers and adipocytokines were elevated in severe deficiency with concomitant decrease in antioxidant defense. The results show that severe but not moderate vitamin B12 restriction had profound impact on the physiology of C57BL/6 mice. Oxidative and corticosteroid stress, inflammation and poor antioxidant defense seem to be the probable underlying mechanisms mediating the deleterious effects.

The study was aimed at finding the effect of garlic and resveratrol on loss of β-cells and diabetic complication in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced Type-I diabetic rats. Rats were injected with single dose STZ (50 mg/kg, i.p.) for induction of type 1 diabetes (Dia) and compared with control group. Rats from third (Dia+Gar), fourth (Dia+Resv), and fifth (Dia+Met) groups were fed raw garlic homogenate (250 mg/kg/day), resveratrol (25 mg/kg/day), and metformin (500 mg/kg/day) orally, respectively, for a period of 4 weeks. Diabetic group had decreased serum insulin and hydrogen sulfide levels along with increased blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin, triglyceride, uric acid, and nitric oxide levels. Significant (p < 0.05) increase in pancreatic and hepatic TBARS, conjugated dienes, nitric oxide, and AGE level and significant (p < 0.05) decrease in SOD, catalase, H2S, GSH level were observed in diabetic group. Administration of garlic, resveratrol, and metformin significantly (p < 0.05) normalized most of the altered metabolic and oxidative stress parameters as well as histopathological changes. Administration of garlic, resveratrol, and metformin in diabetic rat decreases pancreatic β-cell damage and hepatic injury. Our data concluded that administration of garlic showed more promising effect in terms of reducing oxidative stress and pathological changes when compared to resveratrol and metformin groups.

quinine oxidoreductase 1, superoxide dismutase, catalase, nuclear translocation of Nrf2 and protein expression heme oxygenase-1 were evaluated. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) and myocardial expression of cleaved caspase-3, caspase-9, p53, Bax, and Bcl-2 were investigated to assess the apoptotic cell death. Pretreatment with carnosic acid attenuated ISO-induced elevated serum levels of Troponin I, CK-MB, LDH, SGOT and SGPT, and histopathological alterations in heart. Moreover, carnosic acid enhanced the nuclear translocation of Nrf2 and up-regulated the phase II/antioxidant enzyme activities. Furthermore, TUNEL assay and apoptosis-related protein analysis indicated that carnosic acid prevented ISO-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Isoproterenol-induced myocardial lipid peroxidation and protein oxidation were also significantly decreased by carnosic acid pretreatment. The overall results clearly indicate that therapeutic application of carnosic acid might be beneficial in treating cardiovascular disorders.