Oral glycine administration attenuates diabetic complications in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.
Diabetes mellitus is a disease characterized by impaired glucose metabolism that leads to retinopathy, brain micro-infarcts and other complications. We have previously shown that oral glycine administration to diabetic rats inhibits non-enzymatic glycation of hemoglobin and diminishes renal damage. In this work, we evaluated the capacity of the amino acid glycine (1% w/v, 130 mM) to attenuate diabetic complications in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic Wistar rats and compared them with non-treated or taurine-treated (0.5% w/v, 40 mM) diabetic rats. Glycine-treated diabetic rats showed an important diminution in the percentage of animals with opacity in lens and microaneurysms in the eyes. Interestingly, there was a diminished expression of O-acetyl sialic acid in brain vessels compared with untreated diabetic rats (P<0.05). Additionally, peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated from glycine-treated diabetic rats showed a better proliferative response to PHA or ConA than those obtained from non-treated diabetic rats (P<0.05). Glycine-treated rats had a less intense corporal weight loss in comparison with non-treated animals. Our results suggest that administration of glycine attenuates the diabetic complications in the STZ-induced diabetic rat model, probably due to inhibition of the non-enzymatic glycation process.
Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Calz. de Tlalpan 4502, Col. Sección XVI. México, D.F. C.P. 14080, Mexico. nnooee@gmail.com
Noé
N
Alvarado-Vásquez
Ricardo
R
Lascurain
Eduarda
E
Cerón
Beatriz
B
Vanda
Guillermo
G
Carvajal-Sandoval
Aurora
A
Tapia
Jorge
J
Guevara
Luis Felipe
LF
Montaño
Edgar
E
Zenteno
D000284:Administration, Oral; D000783:Aneurysm / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000818:Animals; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000150:complications*; D003925:Diabetic Angiopathies / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000378:metabolism; D005998:Glycine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006031:Glycosylation / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013654:Taurine / Q000008:administration & dosage
D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin; D005998:Glycine; D013654:Taurine