Antidiabetic and Antihyperlipidemic Activity of β-carotene on Streptozotocin-induced Diabetic Rats

Objective: A vital anti-oxidant, β-carotene has the capacity to reduce reactive oxidative stress, metabolic syndrome such as Type 2 (T2) Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and prevent inflammation, obesity, alzheimer and cardiovascular diseases in human. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of β-carotene on streptozotocin (STZ)- induced T2DM rats.

Methods: Diabetes was induced in Wister rats through the intraperitoneal administration of STZ (50 mg/kg b.w.). Antihyperlipidemic activities of β-carotene were evaluated by oral dose (10 mg/70 kg b.w.) once daily for 21 days. Metformin (12.1 mg/kg b.w.) was used as a positive control.

Results: Blood samples of rats were drawn by tail vein puncture and cardiac puncture to determine the fasting blood glucose (FBG) and serum level of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL), respectively. The result of individual treatment of β-carotene and metformin significantly (p<0.001) reversed the diabetes induced increase in FBG, LDL, TC and TG, whereas pointedly increased the STZ-induced decrease in HDL, if compared to the diabetic control.

Conclusion: The monotherapy of β-carotene had important antidiabetic and antihyperlipidemic effects and provided a scientific rationale for their use in antidiabetic therapy as a potential antioxidant.