A Prospective Study to Evaluate Daily Moderate Consumption of Ethanol on Oxidative Stress Markers of Diabetes Induced Wistar Strain Albino Rats

Objective: The objective of this study is to compare the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) level and lipid peroxidation product malondialdehyde (MDA) in ethanol treated non diabetic and diabetic rats.

Methods: A total of 24 male Wistar albino rats were grouped as control (n=6), diabetic control (n=6), ethanol treated control (n=6) and ethanol treated test (n=6) groups. Total duration of this experiment was 30 days. Diabetes mellitus was induced in rats by a single intraperitoneal dose of streptozotocin at 40 mg/kg dissolved in 0.1 M cold citrate buffer. After the confirmation of diabetes in streptozotocin administered rat groups, on the 10th day of the experiment healthy control and diabetic control groups were orally treated with (1.0 mL/Kg body weight) drinking water while diabetic and non-diabetic ethanol control rat groups were orally treated with (1.0 mL/Kg body weight) 6.0% ethanol. On the 20th day, treatment was stopped and restarted on 25th day of the experiment.

Results: At the end of the experiment, the body weight of the healthy rat groups gradually increased (251±20.77g) when compared with diabetic groups (162±07.48 g for diabetic control and 176±24.78 g for ethanol treated diabetic groups). The ethanol treated diabetic groups showed a significantly reduced blood glucose level (P < 0.01) than the diabetic control groups. The moderate amount of ethanol treated diabetic rats showed normal SOD (3.928 Unit mg/min) and decreased MDA (ethanol treated diabetic rats showed 1.0156 nmol/mg protein) than the diabetic rats (1.7638 nmol/mg protein).

Conclusion: This study indicates that daily low consumption of alcohol may reduce the risk of oxidative stress and try to normalize the antioxidant status in diabetes rats.