Author(s)

Ejike Daniel Eze^1*, Yusuf Tanko², Ahmed Abubakar³, Sheu Oluwadare Sulaiman⁴, Karimah Mohammed Rabiu⁵, Aliyu Mohammed²

¹Department of Physiology, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Kampala International University, Kampala, Uganda.
²Department of Human Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.
³Department of Pharmacognosy and Drug Development, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.
⁴Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kampala International University, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
⁵Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Yobe State University, Damaturu, Nigeria.

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus has remained one of the serious health problems in the world; and oxidative stress has been reported to be a root cause for the progression and development of diabetes mellitus and its associated complications. Aim: This study investigated the possible ameliorative effects of lycopene on diabetic-induced changes in erythrocyte osmotic fragility and lipid peroxidation in Wistar rats. Methodology: The animals were made diabetic by single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin at 60 mg/kg b w. Diabetes was confirmed by the presence of high fasting blood glucose level ≥ 200 after 72 hours. Thereafter, diabetic rats were randomly assigned into six groups (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) comprising five animals each. Group 1 (Diabetic control) and group 2 (Normal control) rats received 0.5 ml of olive oil, groups 3, 4, 5 rats received 10, 20, 40 mg/kg bw of lycopene respectively, while those in group 6 received 2 mg/kg bw of glibenclamide orally once daily for a period of four weeks. At the end of the treatment, all animals were sacrificed; blood samples collected for determination of erythrocyte osmotic fragility (EOF) and lipid peroxidation (LPO). Results: The results obtained showed that there was a significantly (P < 0.05) lowered erythrocyte osmotic fragility in diabetic animals treated with lycopene when compared with diabetic control group. In addition, there was also a significantly (P < 0.05) reduced erythrocyte malondialdehyde concentration, an index of lipid peroxidation in the diabetic treated groups when compared with diabetic control group. Conclusion: From the available findings, it can be concluded that administration of lycopene to diabetic rats attenuated diabetic-induced changes in EOF and LPO and these observed effects may be attributed to anti-oxidative property of lycopene.

Diabetes Mellitus, Streptozotocin, Lycopene, Erythrocyte Osmotic Fragility, Lipid Peroxidation, Rats

Eze, E. , Tanko, Y. , Abubakar, A. , Sulaiman, S. , Rabiu, K. and Mohammed, A. (2017) Lycopene Ameliorates Diabetic-Induced Changes in Erythrocyte Osmotic Fragility and Lipid Peroxidation in Wistar Rats. Journal of Diabetes Mellitus, 7, 71-85. doi: 10.4236/jdm.2017.73006.