Effects of Caffeine mixed with Alpha Lipoic Acid in Preventing Streptozotocin-induced Diabetes in Rats: In Silico and In vivo Study

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the combined effects of caffeine and Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) on oxidative stress, due to chronic hyperglycemia, in a model of diabetic rats induced with streptozotocin (STZ) (in silico and in vivo approaches). Material and Methods: This In silico study investigated the interaction between caffeine and ALA against insulin receptors and enzymes of Glutathione Peroksidase-1 (GPx-1), with molecular docking. Male, Wistar rats were included using a quasi-experimental research design, with post-test only and a control group (in vivo). This study measured the end result of a 6-week-induction on body weight, fasting blood glucose, Malondialdehyde (MDA) and GPx-1 enzyme from 25 rats. Results: Molecular docking found the interactions of caffeine and GPx-1 consisting of an energy bond of -5,06 kcal/mol, hydrogen and hydrophobic bond. Additionally, it showed the interaction of ALA and GPx-1 containing an energy bond of -5.16 kcal/mol, hydrogen bonding and hydrophobicity. However, there were no significant difference in body weight, fasting blood glucose, MDA and GPx-1 levels of the ALA-caffeinated diabetic rats compared to diabetic rats.Conclusion: Caffeine and ALA have the potential to activate GPx-1 enzymes (in silico study). However, the use of a caffeine and ALA combination resulted in no significant difference in fasting blood glucose and oxidative stress conditions when compared to diabetic rats without additional induction (in vivo study).