Does curcumin or metformin attenuate oxidative stress and diabetic nephropathy in rats?

Yaser Mohassel ,1,* Hosein mohammadi,2 Sonia salari,3

1. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of medicine, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah- Iran
2. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of medicine, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah- Iran
3. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of medicine, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah- Iran

Abstract

Introduction

Since the importance of oxidative stress in the development of diabetic nephropathy (dn) has previously been established, the therapeutic effects of various natural antioxidant agents or synthetic drugs have so far been investigated.the aim of this study was to investigate the beneficial effects of curcumin (a natural polyphenol) and metformin (a common therapeutic medicine for type2 diabetes) on oxidative status in kidney of type1 diabetic rats.

Methods

Methods: in this experimental study 60 male wistar rats were divided into 10groups. type1 diabetes was induced by streptozotocin. rats received chow diet and treated with either normal saline in control (n) and diabetic control (d) groups or different doses of metformin (300 or 500 mg/kg body weight) or curcumin (50 or 150 mg/kg body weight) in n+met300, n+met500, n+cur50, n+cur150, d+met300, d+met500, d+cur50, and d+cur150 groups. urinary creatinine, urea, and protein were measured. total antioxidant capacity (tac), total oxidant status (tos), malondialdehyde (mda), and the activity of superoxide dismutase (sod), glutathione peroxidase (gpx), and catalase were assessed in kidney tissues.

Results

Both metformin and curcumin showed significant effects on urinary creatinine, urea, and protein levels (p value for all was <0.001). unlike metformin, curcumin completely restored tac and tos (p<0.001), and mda (p=0.012) in kidney tissues and significantly recovered the activities of sod (p=0.003), gpx (p<0.001), and catalase (p=0.011).

Conclusion

Curcumin was found more effective than metformin in attenuating oxidative status in diabetic nephropathy.

Keywords

Curcumin , diabetic nephropathies , metformin, oxidative stress.