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Modulatory effect of fenugreek saponins on the activities of intestinal and hepatic disaccharidase and glycogen and liver function of diabetic rats

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Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a serious health concern throughout the world and is often associated with a variety of bodily disorders such as liver toxicity and dysfunction. This study elucidates the effect of fenugreek saponin administration on disaccharidase and glycogen activities in the intestine and liver of surviving diabetic rats. It also evaluates the effect of saponin feeding using a number of liver toxicity indices, namely stress oxidant, liver dysfunction markers and metabolism. Our findings indicate that the fenugreek saponin fraction significantly modulated the disaccharidase and glycogen enzyme activities in the intestine and liver of rats, increased the hepatic glycogen content, suppressed the increase of blood glucose level and improved results in the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). The fenugreek saponin extract also efficiently protected the hepatic function, which was evidenced by the significant increases of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), gluthation peroxidase (GPX), aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT) and lactate deshydrogenase (LDH) enzyme activities. Fenugreek saponin also induced a notable delay in the absorption of LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides and a remarkable increase in levels of HDL-cholesterol. A histological analysis of the hepatic tissues further established the positive effect of fenugreek saponin. Overall, the findings of the current study indicate that fenugreek saponins exhibit attractive properties and can be considered as promising candidates for future application as therapeutic agents in biotechnological and bioprocess-based technologies, particularly those related to the development of anti-diabetic, hepatoprotective and hypolipidemic drugs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Animal Ecophysiology, Faculty of Science of Sfax, P.O. Box 95, Sfax, 3052, Tunisia

    Khaled Hamden & Abdelfattah Elfeki

  2. Laboratory of Prokaryotic Enzymes and Metabolites, Centre of Biotechnology of Sfax, P.O. Box 1177, Sfax, 3018, Tunisia

    Bassem Jaouadi & Samir Bejar

  3. Anatomo-Pathology Laboratory, CHU-Hbib Bourguiba, Sfax, 3000, Tunisia

    Tahia Salami

  4. Department of Biochemistry, University of Caen-Basse Normandie, USC INRA, EA2608, CHU-Caen, France

    Serge Carreau

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  1. Khaled Hamden
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  2. Bassem Jaouadi
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  3. Tahia Salami
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  4. Serge Carreau
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  5. Samir Bejar
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  6. Abdelfattah Elfeki
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Correspondence to Khaled Hamden.

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Both authors have equally contributed to this work.

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Hamden, K., Jaouadi, B., Salami, T. et al. Modulatory effect of fenugreek saponins on the activities of intestinal and hepatic disaccharidase and glycogen and liver function of diabetic rats. Biotechnol Bioproc E 15, 745–753 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12257-009-3159-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12257-009-3159-0

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