Effect of Indongcho(L. japonica Thunb) on Glucose and Lipid metabolism and Antioxidative Enzyme System in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary Indongcho(L. japonica Thunb) powder on blood glucose, serum lipid levels and antioxidative enzymes in normal and streptozotocin(STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Four groups of rats(3-week-old inbred Sprague-Dawley male rats) were normal rats fed control diet(NC), diabetic rats fed control diet(DC), normal rats fed Indongcho powder diet(NI), and diabetic rats fed Indongcho powder diet(DI). Diabetes was induced by single injection of streptozotocin(60mg/kg B.W., i.p.). The animals were fed ad libium each of the experimental diet for 5 weeks. Food and water intakes were determined everyday. Blood glucose and serum total cholesterol levels were determined every week. After 5 weeks the animals were sacrificed and activities of antioxidant enzymes and lipid peroxidation products were determined in their liver and kidney homogenates. We also determined serum concentrations of total lipid(TL), total cholesterol(TC), triglycerides(TG) and HDL-cholesterol(HDL-C). Blood sugar and water intake were higher in diabetic group(DC and DI group) than normal group(NC and NI group) and were not significantly decreased by dietary Indongcho intake. Body weight gain and FER(feed efficiency ratio) were reduced by STZ treatment. But, Final body weight was recovered by Indongcho-contained diet. LHR(LDL-cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol) of the DI g re up was significantly lower than the other experimental groups(NC, NI and DC groups). The hepatic glucose 6-phosphatase(G6Pase) activity of the groups fed Indongcho diet(NI and DI group) was lower than the groups fed control diet(NC and DC group) and the G6Pase activity of NI group was recovered to the normal levels(p