ABSTRACT
Background: Diabetic nephropathy is the leading causeof End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) emerging indeveloped as well as developing countries, with thecomplicated pathogenesis. The study of expression ofthe genes related to kidney cells e.g. podocytes has beenshown to be associated with the condition, helping in theelucidation of pathogenesis of the disease. Previouslythe gene expression associated was studied in urinesamples. Material and Methods: In the present study, itwas attempted to analyze the mRNA expression ofpodocyte related genes viz. podocalyxin, podocin andsynaptopodin in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells(PBMCs) in patients with diabetes with and withoutnephropathy in comparison with healthy controls byreverse transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction(PCR), followed by semi-quantitative PCR. Results:The expression of Synaptopodin (SYNPO) wasincreased in diabetics than the controls, while nosignificant difference was found for Podocalixyn(PODXL) and Podocin (NPHS2). The expression ofPODXL and NPHS2 was significantly up-regulated;SYNPO was unaltered in microalbuminuric patientsthan healthy controls. PODXL and SYNPO wereincreased significantly in nephropathy subjects thancontrols, with no significant change in NPHS2. Theexpression of only PODXL was found to be upregulated in microalbuminuric patients as compared toT2DM patients without nephropathy. PODXL, SYNPOwere significantly up-regulated and NPHS2 wassignificantly down-regulated in nephropathy subjects ascompared to T2DM patients without nephropathy. Asignificant down-regulation was found for NPHS2expression in nephropathy patients than microalbuminuric patients of T2DM with nephropathy.Conclusion: The detection of gene expression of theseproteins can be used as an early marker for the detectionof development of nephropathy in T2DM patients andpreventive measures can be taken to prolong the onsetof nephropathy in these patients, increasing the lifeexpectancy.
ABSTRACT
A comprehensive in vitro study involving antiglycation, antioxidant and anti-diabetic assays was carried out in mature fruits of strawberry. The effect of aqueous extract of mature strawberry fruits on glycation of guanosine with glucose and fructose with or without oxidizing entities like reactive oxygen species was analyzed. Spectral studies showed that glycation and/or fructation of guanosine was significantly inhibited by aqueous extract of strawberry. The UV absorbance of the glycation reactions was found to be maximum at 24 hrs. and decreased consecutively for 48, 72 and 96 hours. Inhibition of oxidative damage due to reactive oxygen species was also observed in presence of the plant extract. To our knowledge, antiglycation activity of strawberry fruit with reference to guanosine is being demonstrated for the first time. To determine the antioxidant activity of the plant extract, in vitro antioxidant enzymes assays (catalase, peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase and ascorbic acid oxidase) and antioxidant assays (DPPH, superoxide anion scavenging activity and xanthine oxidase) were performed. Maximum inhibition activity of 79.36%, 65.62% and 62.78% was observed for DPPH, superoxide anion scavenging and xanthine oxidase, respectively. In antidiabetic assays, IC50 value for alpha – amylase and alpha – glucosidase activity of fruit extract of strawberry was found to be 86.47 ± 1.12μg/ml and 76.83 ± 0.93 μg/ml, respectively. Thus, the aqueous extract of strawberry showed antiglycation, antioxidant and antidiabetic properties indicating that strawberry fruits, as a dietary supplement, may be utilized towards management of diabetes.