Abstract
The objective of this study was to determine the effects of metformin treatment and exercise intervention on lipid metabolism, nitric oxide (NO), nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and glucose levels in streptozotocin-nicotinamide (STZ-NA) induced diabetic rats. Male wistar rats were used to conduct the study and they were divided into five groups of 8 rats in each. These groups are: Control group, diabetes group (STZ-NA), diabetes and metformin (DMet) group, diabetes and exercise (DE) group, and diabetes + exercise + metformin (DEMet) group. The STZ-NA induced diabetic rats were used as a model of type 2 diabetes. Metformin was orally administered to rats. For exercise intervention, rats were forced to run in a running wheel for 10 min each day (20 m/min/day). At the end of experimental period, blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, plasma lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) levels, serum triglyceride (TG), cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL), Apo A-I, NOS and liver NO levels were determined. Metformin caused beneficial changes in blood glucose, HbA1c levels, and HDL in type 2 diabetic rats. Both administration of metformin and exercise intervention independently caused beneficial changes in blood glucose. However, the surprising result found was that exercise intervention did not optimize the result of metformin treatment. The other finding of this study was that exercise intervention increased cholesterol and NOS level but exercise combined with metformin was not better than exercise alone. Thus, it appears from the present study that metformin and exercise combination has no effect. Key words: Diabetes, exercise, lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT), metformin, nitric oxide synthase.
Highlights
Diabetes mellitus is one of the most widespread disease in both developed and developing countries
The objective of this study was to determine the effects of metformin treatment and exercise intervention on lipid metabolism, nitric oxide (NO), nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and glucose levels in streptozotocin-nicotinamide (STZ-NA) induced diabetic rats
Blood glucose levels were increased in STZ-NA group compared to the controls there were no differences between the glucose levels of the control rats at the beginning and at the end of the study
Summary
Diabetes mellitus is one of the most widespread disease in both developed and developing countries. Exercise is recommended for the treatment of type 2 diabetes to assist in weight management and glucose control and it is shown that, it increases whole-body insulin sensitivity. Metformin belongs to biguanide family, used as an orally active antihyperglycemic drug in the treatment of human type 2 diabetes (Saravanan and Pari, 2006). Metformin controls hyperglycemia via ameliorating insulin sensitivity and decreasing insulin levels and it regulates lipid profiles (Katakam et al, 2000). It is known that NO plays important roles on muscle contractility (smooth muscle, cardiac, and skeletal muscle), platelet aggregation, metabolism (glucose, lipid, and amino acid metabolism), neuronal activity, and immune responses (Gao, 2010). There is increasing evidence that NO is an important haemodynamic and metabolic regulator during the physical activity (Kingwell, 2000)
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