ABSTRACT
The prevalence of cardiovascular complications in diabetes has become one of the major cause of diabetes related morbidity/mortality. The onset and progression of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) has been majorly linked to lipid alterations, oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis. This present study investigated the cardioprotective role of Lycium chinense leaf extract (LCME) in fructose/streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. Diabetic animals were orally gavaged with LCME (100 and 400 mg/kg) for five weeks. The results indicated that diabetic rats showed increased blood glucose concentration, serum cardiac function markers (troponin T, creatine kinase-MB, aspartate aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase) and lipid profile (triglycerides and cholesterol). In addition, the cardiac tissues of diabetic rats showed increased levels of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin 1 beta (IL 1ß), interleukin 6 (IL-6), caspase-3 and malondialdehyde as well as significantly reduced activities of catalase, superoxide dismutase, reduced glutathione and glutathione peroxidase. LCME significantly ameliorated hyperglycemia and markedly decreased serum concentrations of troponin T, creatine kinase-MB, aspartate aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase, triglycerides and cholesterol. Furthermore, LCME notably suppressed cardiac oxido-inflammatory mediators and boosted cardiac antioxidant defense. Histopathologically, LCME restored cardiac structural alterations and also suppressed the immunohistochemical expression of collagen IV, smooth muscle alpha-actin (α-SMA) and p53, while Bcl2 expression was significantly increased. In conclusion, our result indicated that LCME protected against diabetic cardiomyopathy suppressing oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis and fibrosis.