Experimental diabetes treated with ficus carica extract: effect on oxidative stress parameters

Abstract.

Parameters related to oxidative stress were studied in rats divided into 4 groups: streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats (n=10), diabetic rats who received a single dose of a basic fraction of Ficus carica extract (n=14), diabetic rats who received a single dose of a chloroform fraction of the extract (n=10), and normal rats (n=10). Compared to normal animals, the diabetic animals presented significantly higher values for erythrocyte catalase normalized to haemoglobin levels (1.5±0.15 vs. 0.96±0.18 μg/mg) and for plasma vitamin E (73.4±43.9 vs. 12.0±1.6 mg/l), monounsaturated fatty acids (0.219±0.118 vs. 0.067±0.014 mg/ml), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA, 0.567±0.293 vs. 0.175±0.040 mg/ml), saturated fatty acids (0.779±0.262 vs. 0.401±0.055 mg/ml), and linoleic acid (0.202±0.086 vs. 0.106 ±0.014 mg/ml). Both Ficus carica fractions tended to normalize the values of the diabetic animals' fatty acids and plasma vitamin E values. On studying the ratios of vitamins E and A to PUFA (129.4±77.5 diabetic and 68.8±9.1 μg/mg normal; 37.5±20.8 vs. 108.0±43.6 μg/mg) and to C18:2 (259.9±65.8 vs. 161.0±21.3 μg/mg; 68.3±37.9 vs. 252.7±102.1 μg/mg), we found statistically significant differences as a function of diabetes, with the vitamin E/C18:2 ratio being normalized by the administration of the chloroform fraction (to 152.1±80.3 μg/mg) and the vitamin A/C18:2 ratio being raised relative to the untreated diabetic rats by the administration of the basic fraction (91.9±14.5 μg/mg). Our work confirms that antioxidant status is affected in the diabetes syndrome, and that Ficus carica extracts tend to normalize it.