Cardiac Oxidative Status in Diabetic Wistar Rats Exposed To Ethanol Extract of Cucumis Sativus Fruit

The present study investigated cardiac oxidative status in diabetic Wistar rats exposed to ethanol extract of Cucumis sativus fruit. Male Wistar albino rats (n = 25, mean weight = 215 ± 15 g) were randomly assigned to five groups of 5 rats each: normal control, diabetic control, metformin, extract (200 mg/kg body weight, bwt) and extract (300 mg/kg bwt) groups. Diabetes mellitus was induced in the rats via intraperitoneal injection of 50 mg/kg bwt STZ. The diabetic rats were treated for 21 days with either metformin (50 mg/kg bwt) or the extract. Activities of antioxidant enzymes such as catalase, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione reductase (GR) as well as molecules like reduced glutathione (GSH), total protein (TP), malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) were measured in heart homogenate. The results showed that induction of diabetes mellitus with STZ significantly increased the fasting blood glucose (FBG) concentrations of the rats, while decreasing the activity/concentration of antioxidant enzymes/ molecules (p < 0.05). However, treatment of the diabetic Wistar rats with the extract markedly reduced the FBG concentration and body weights of rats, but enhanced the activity/concentration of antioxidant enzymes/molecules in cardiac tissue (p < 0.05). These results indicate that ethanol extract of the medicinal plant fruit has the potential to promote antioxidant defense in the heart of STZ-induced diabetic rats.