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Introduction: Diabetes mellitus has become a serious warning to mankind health all over the world. The management goal of diabetes is to keep blood glucose levels as close as possible to healthy individuals. Medications used to treat diabetes are usually associated with complications and may cause different side effects. Many traditional anti-diabetic plants have become popular in the management of diabetes mellitus. Flaxseed has been used as traditional medicine for centuries. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the hepatoprotective effects of flaxseed extract in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Methods: Diabetes mellitus was induced in Sprague-Dawley rats using a single injection of streptozotocin (60 mg/kg i.p.). The rats were divided into five groups of 8 rats each. Group NC, normal control rats; Group NF, normal rats treated with flaxseed extract (400 mg/kg); Group DC, diabetic control rats; Group DG, diabetic rats treated with glibenclamide (0.6 mg/kg); Group DF, diabetic rats treated with flaxseed extract (400 mg/kg); for 4 weeks. Results: There were significant increase in relative liver weight, blood glucose levels in DC group comparing to NC group (p<0.05). The disturbance of these parameters was ameliorated in DF and DG groups. Histological observation revealed congestion of central veins, degeneration of hepatocytes, and reduced glycogen granules in DC group. These pathological changes were ameliorated in the flaxseed extract and glibenclamide treated rats. Conclusion: Flaxseed extract may represent a candidate alternative treatment to control diabetes mellitus and its related hepatopathy.
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Atherosclerosis in cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a growing health problem, especially in developing countries. Hyperlipidemia is known as a dominant risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis. This study was designed to investigate the effects of Eurycoma Longifolia (EL) also known as Malaysian Ginseng/ Tongkat Ali on the testosterone level, biochemical changes of lipid profile and intima media thickness (IMT) in rats fed on high-fat diet. Twenty young, adult male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were housed for 12 weeks. After one week of acclimatization, they were randomly divided into four groups of 5 animals each and treated for 12 weeks as follow: Group ND was given only normal diet, group NDEL was given normal diet and EL extracts (15mg/kg) dissolved in distilled water, group HFD was given only high fat diet and group HFDEL was given high fat diet and EL extracts (15mg/kg). Rats which were treated with EL (NDEL and HFDEL) showed a significant increase (p<0.05) in the testosterone levels. There was a significant decrease (p<0.05) in triglyceride (TG) in HFDEL group compered to HFD group. The histological sections of aortas revealed a significant decrease (p<0.05) in IMT in HFDEL as compared with HFD group. No histological changes were observed in NDEL group compared with ND group and there was no significant difference in IMT values between NDEL and ND. These findings suggest that EL is a promising protective agent against atherosclerosis induced by high-fat diet.
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Introduction: H. pylori BabA is an outer membrane protein that mediates bacterial adherence to the gastric epithelium, triggers several pathways during the course of infection, and thus contributes to the disease development. Considering the variability in the presence of BabA coding gene (babA2) among H. pylori clinical strains, the aim of this study was to assess the relationship between the genotype status of H. pylori babA2 and the severity of clinical and histopathological outcomes. Methods: Gastric mucosal biopsy specimens were collected from 30 CLO test-positive patients, 16 with gastritis and 14 with peptic ulcer disease. Polymerase chain reaction was carried out to detect the presence of H. pylori-specific glmM gene and BabA coding gene (babA2). Histopathological examination was performed to evaluate the severity of H. pylori-associated gastric disease according to the Updated Sydney Classification System. Results: The glmM and babA2 genes were present in 100% and 86.7% of the tested H. pylori strains, respectively. Although higher degrees of inflammatory activity and H. pylori density were noted in babA2-positive biopsy specimens, there was no statistically significant association between babA2 genotype status and the severity of gastric disease. Conclusion: The babA2 genotype status of H. pylori may not be considered as a sole marker for determining the infection outcomes.