Cucurbita pepo seeds improve peripheral neuropathy in diabetic rats by modulating the inflammation and oxidative stress in rats.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Cucurbita pepo (C. pepo) is cultivated and used traditionally as vegetable as well as medicine in different parts of the world. The aim of current study was to investigate the potential of C. pepo in attenuation of diabetic neuropathy via using streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes model in male wistar rats.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Diabetic neuropathy was induced by administration of STZ; 65 mg/kg, i.p. and Nicotinamide (NAD; 230 mg/kg i.p.) and assessed by measuring thermal hyperalgesia, mechanical hyperalgesia and motor nerve conduction velocity (MNCV) in experimental animals. Treatment with different doses of (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg, p.o.) petroleum ether extract of C. pepo (CPE) and hydroethanolic extract of C. pepo (CHE) was started from the 60th day of STZ/NAD administration and continued upto 90th day.

RESULTS:

CPE and CHE significantly attenuated the behavioural changes including hyperalgesia, allodynia and MNCV linked to diabetic neuropathy. Moreover, the oxidative stress and level of TNF-α, TGF-β and IL-1β was found to be significantly attenuated in experimental animals.

CONCLUSION:

Thus C. pepo might ameliorate the progression of diabetic neuropathy via modulation of chronic hyperglycemia and therefore and have therapeutic potential for treatment of diabetic neuropathic pain.

• Authors: Navpreet Kaur, Lalit Kishore, Shah Asma Farooq, Anu Kajal, Randhir Singh, Rohini Agrawal, Ashi Mannan, Thakur Gurjeet Singh
• Journal: Environmental science and pollution research international (Environ Sci Pollut Res Int) Vol. 30 Issue 36 Pg. 85910-85919 (Aug 2023) ISSN: 1614-7499 [Electronic] Germany
• PMID: 37400700 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: © 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

Chemical References

• NAD

Topics

• Rats
• Male
• Animals
• Diabetic Neuropathies (chemically induced, drug therapy)
• Cucurbita
• Hyperalgesia (drug therapy)
• Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental (chemically induced, drug therapy)
• NAD
• Oxidative Stress
• Rats, Wistar
• Inflammation