Protective effect of catalpol on diabetic rat aorta and its antioxidant mechanisms / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

AIM:To investigate the protective effect of catalpol on Goto-kakizaki (GK) rat aorta and to ex-plore its antioxidant mechanisms.METHODS:Six-month-old GK rats (n=45) were randomly divided into diabetic model group, metformin (100 mg· kg-1· d-1) group, and high-dose (100 mg· kg-1· d-1), medium-dose (50 mg· kg-1· d-1) and low-dose (10 mg· kg-1· d-1) catalpol groups.The healthy male Wistar rats (n=10) were used as control group.The rats in control and model groups were given a same volume of saline .All reagents were administered by oral ga-vage for 12 weeks.Blood glucose and lipids were detected by an automatic biochemical analyzer .Serum reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) levels were detected by commercial kits .The expression of nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in the thoracic aorta was determined by Western blotting .The pathological changes of the thoracic aorta were observed by HE staining.The ultrastructural changes of the thoracic aorta were observed under electron microscope .RESULTS:Af-ter catalpol treatment , the levels of blood glucose and blood lipids were decreased significantly , and serum levels of ROS and MDA were significantly decreased , but the activity of SOD and T-AOC were significantly enhanced .The protein ex-pression of Nrf2 and HO-1 in the thoracic aorta were significantly increased , the thoracic aortic lesions indicated by HE staining significantly reduced , and the thoracic aortic damage under ultrastructural observation was attenuated slightly . CONCLUSION:Catalpol effectively protects GK rat thoracic aorta , which may be associated with decreasing blood lipids , reducing oxidative stress and activating Nrf 2/ARE/HO-1 signaling pathways.