Comparison of the efficacy of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) with pioglitazone on dexamethasone-induced hepatic steatosis, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia in albino rats

Abstract

To evaluate the efficacy of cardamom with pioglitazone on dexamethasone-induced hepatic steatosis, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia in albino rats. There were four groups of 6 rats each. First group received dexamethasone alone in a dose of 8 mg/kg intraperitoneally for 6 days to induce metabolic changes and considered as dexamethasone control. Second group received cardamom suspension 1 g/kg/10 mL of 2% gum acacia orally 6 days before dexamethasone and 6 days during dexamethasone administration. Third group received pioglitazone 45 mg/kg orally 6 days before dexamethasone and 6 days during dexamethasone administration. Fourth group did not receive any medication and was considered as normal control. Fasting blood sugar, lipid profile, blood sugar 2 h after glucose load, liver weight, liver volume were recorded, and histopathological analysis was done. The effects of cardamom were compared with that of pioglitazone. Dexamethasone caused hepatomegaly, dyslipidemia and hyperglycemia. Both pioglitazone and cardamom significantly reduced hepatomegaly, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia (P < 0.01). Reduction of blood sugar levels after glucose load was significant with pioglitazone in comparison to cardamom (P < 0.01). Cardamom has comparable efficacy to pioglitazone in preventing dexamethasone-induced hepatomegaly, dyslipidemia, and fasting hyperglycemia.

Cardamom powder supplementation prevents obesity, improves glucose intolerance, inflammation and oxidative stress in liver of high carbohydrate high fat diet induced obese rats

“…Moreover, cardamom supplementation in HCHF diet fed rats improves the glucose metabolism and prevented the rise of oxidative stresses. These findings are also supported by previously published works showed that cardamom improved hyperglycemia, glucose intolerance and insulin resistance in rats [ 36 , 37 ].…”

Beneficial effects of green cardamom on serum SIRT1, glycemic indices and triglyceride levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomized double‐blind placebo controlled clinical trial

“…Recently, great attention has been paid to herbal medicine because of their beneficial effects on health . Our findings are in agreement with the results of previous studies in animals which showed that cardamom improved glycemic indices . Yaghooblou et al have reported that cardamom supplementation had improved insulin sensitivity in overweight or obese pre‐diabetic women.…”

“…In an in vitro study, Ahmed et al findings showed that by suppression of α‐amylase and α‐glucosidase activity, cardamom supplementation has anti‐diabetic effects. Furthermore, some animal studies revealed that cardamom improved glycemic indices . Though, human studies that investigated the effects of cardamom are very limited.…”

Intraspecific variations in cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton): assessment of genomic diversity by flow cytometry, cytological studies and ISSR analysis

“…D-Limonene, one of the constituent of cardamom oil is reported to have tumour suppressing effect against colon, mammary, liver, lung, skin and stomach cancers in rodents (Samir et al 2015). It has been stated in a US patent (US 20060147561 A1) that a poly herbal formulation including cardamom can be efficiently used for diabetic treatment (Nitasha Bhat et al 2015). …”