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

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. 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. 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.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.