Home Medicine Effects of selenium, zinc, insulin and metallothionein on cadmium-induced oxidative stress and metallothionein gene expression levels in diabetic rats
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Effects of selenium, zinc, insulin and metallothionein on cadmium-induced oxidative stress and metallothionein gene expression levels in diabetic rats

  • Huseyin Gungor ORCID logo EMAIL logo and Haki Kara ORCID logo
Published/Copyright: March 2, 2020

Abstract

Background

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of selenium, zinc, insulin, and metallothionein on oxidative damage and metallothionein (MT) gene expression levels in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 1 diabetic rats exposed to Cd.

Methods

Rats were categorized under eight groups (control, STZ, Cd, STZ + Cd, Group 5, Group 6, Group 7, and STZ + Cd + MT [n:8/group]) were used. After diabetes was induced by STZ (55 mg/kg, i.p.), Cd was administered (1 mg/kg CdCl, orally) for 4 weeks. In cadmium-treated groups selenium (Na2SeO3 1.5 mg/kg, i.p.), zinc (ZnSO4 10 mg/kg via oral gavage), insulin (insulin glargine, 2U/day, s.c.), and MT (1mg/kg, every other 10 days, s.c.) were administered. MT gene expression levels, MDA levels, GPx, SOD, and CAT activity levels were determined in liver and kidney tissues.

Results

MT gene expression and MDA levels increased (p < 0.05) while GPx and SOD activity levels decreased (p < 0.05) in STZ, Cd, and STZ + Cd groups. In Group 5, Group 6, Group 7, and Group 8 groups MT gene expression and MDA levels were decreased while GPx and SOD activity levels were increased (p < 0.05). CAT activity significantly increased (p < 0.05) in STZ + Cd group while there were no significance in other groups (p > 0.05). Compared to the control, Group 5, Group 6, Group 7, and Group 8 groups provided no difference for alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, blood urea nitrogen and creatinine levels (p > 0.05).

Conclusions

Our results suggest that Se, insulin, Zn and MT may have protective effects against hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity caused by Cd exposure in diabetic rats by reducing oxidative stress and MT gene expression levels.

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the Sivas Cumhuriyet University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine for providing the laboratory and necessary instruments for conducting experiments.

  1. Research funding: This study was supported by Sivas Cumhuriyet University Scientific Research Project V-018 (CUBAP, Sivas, Turkey).

  2. Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  3. Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.

  4. Ethical approval: Research involving animals complies with all relevant national regulations and institutional policies for the care and use of animals. All of the animal experimentations were approved by the Local Ethical Committee for Animal Experimentations of Cumhuriyet University (B.30.2.CUM.0.001.00.00-50/67).

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Received: 2019-07-17
Accepted: 2019-12-30
Published Online: 2020-03-02

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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