title: Tinospora cordifolia attenuates oxidative stress and distorted carbohydrate metabolism in experimentally induced type 2 diabetes in rats.
abstract: Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder affecting a vast number of people worldwide. Oxidative stress is the causative agent amplifying diabetic complications in various organs by generating noxious amount of free radicals. A huge interest always exists in exploring nutraceuticals from plant materials to replace synthetic drugs in order to overcome their adverse effects and also for economic reasons. The anti-diabetic efficiency of a medicinal plant, Tinospora cordifolia (TC) was studied in experimentally induced type 2 diabetes in Sprague-Dawley rats. Diabetes was induced by a combination of high fat diet (HFD) for a period of 10 weeks followed by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ, 35 mg/kg of body weight). Oral treatment of TC (100 and 200 mg/kg body weight) for 14 days regulated blood glucose, provoked insulin secretion and also suppressed oxidative stress marker, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), formation and restored cellular defence anti-oxidant markers including superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione (GSH), in liver. Treatment with TC (100 and 200 mg/kg) also inhibited glucose 6-phosphatase and fructose 1,6-diphosphatase (p < 0.001); and restored glycogen content in liver (p < 0.005), which was also studied by histopathological staining with periodic acid-Schiff stain. In conclusion, the traditional plant Tinospora cordifolia mediates its anti-diabetic potential through mitigating oxidative stress, promoting insulin secretion and also by inhibiting gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis, thereby regulating blood glucose.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai, 600116, India.
authors.forename: Marimuthu Kannan
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Sangeetha
authors.forename: Hanumantha Rao
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Balaji Raghavendran
authors.forename: Veeraraghavan
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gayathri
authors.forename: Hannah R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Vasanthi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005943:Gluconeogenesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D054477:Glutaredoxins / Q000235:genetics; D006003:Glycogen / Q000378:metabolism; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013879:Thioredoxins / Q000235:genetics; D031610:Tinospora / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D054477:Glutaredoxins; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents; D007328:Insulin; D010936:Plant Extracts; D013879:Thioredoxins; D006003:Glycogen