Evaluation of anti-diabetic and antioxidant properties of vitamin E and vitamin C in alloxan induced diabetic rats

Abstract

Diabetes is a burning health issue worldwide. Hyperglycemia is the characteristic feature of diabetes and this elevated blood glucose caused oxidative stress. Vitamin E and C are well known because of their anti-oxidant properties and only few studies have been done on the antidiabetic properties of Vitamin E and C, so we selected these two vitamins to evaluate the anti-diabetic and anti-oxidative properties. A single dose of alloxan (120mg/kg-BW) in over fasting rats was used as a diabetogenic agent and rats showed blood glucose level higher than 250mg/dl were considered as diabetic. Rats were divided into three groups (08 rats/group). Group A contain diabetic rats, Group B contain diabetic rats treated with vitamin E (600mg/kg BW) and group C contain diabetic rats (1000 mg/kg BW). The duration of trial was 21 days. We found a significant increase in the body weight at day 21 in both treated groups as compared to day 1. A significant reduction in fasting serum glucose was found for vitamin E (210.6±8.48) and C (187±4.18). A significant reduction, in total cholesterol (248.64±14.14 for vitamin E and 210.6±21.80 for vitamin C) and LDL (44.63±8.87 vitamin E; 73.34±6.99 vitamin C) was found. However, significant increased for HDL was found in vitamin E (40.4±5.58) group. We also found great anti-oxidant properties of both these vitamins by studying catalase (CAT) enzyme and found a significant (18.18±0.17) decrease for CAT in group B and (18.92±0.23) in group C. In conclusion, both vitamin E and vitamin C showed good anti-hyperglycemic, anti-hypercholesterolemic and anti-oxidative properties.