Department of Biochemistry, University of Kerala, Kariavattom Campus, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
Chem Biol Interact. 2011 Jan 15;189(1-2):107-11. doi: 10.1016/j.cbi.2010.10.015. Epub 2010 Nov 2.
Diabetes mellitus is a syndrome characterized by the loss of glucose homeostasis due to several reasons. In spite of the presence of known anti-diabetic medicines in the pharmaceutical market, remedies from natural resources are used with success to treat this disease. The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of coconut kernel protein (CKP) on alloxan induced diabetes in Sprague-Dawley rats. Diabetes was induced by injecting a single dose of alloxan (150mg/kg body weight) intraperitoneally. After inducing diabetes, purified CKP isolated from dried coconut kernel was administered to rats along with a semi synthetic diet for 45 days. After the experimental period, serum glucose, insulin, activities of different key enzymes involved in glucose metabolism, liver glycogen levels and the histopathology of the pancreas were evaluated. The amount of individual amino acids of CKP was also determined using HPLC. Results showed that CKP has significant amount of arginine. CKP feeding attenuated the increase in the glucose and insulin levels in diabetic rats. Glycogen levels in the liver and the activities of carbohydrate metabolizing enzymes in the serum of treated diabetic rats were reverted back to the normal levels compared to that of control. Histopathology revealed that CKP feeding reduced the diabetes related pancreatic damage in treated rats compared to the control. These results clearly demonstrated the potent anti-diabetic activity of CKP which may be probably due to its effect on pancreatic β cell regeneration through arginine.
糖尿病是一种由于多种原因导致葡萄糖稳态丧失的综合征。尽管药物市场上有已知的抗糖尿病药物，但仍成功地使用天然资源的疗法来治疗这种疾病。本研究旨在研究椰子核蛋白（CKP）对链脲佐菌素诱导的 Sprague-Dawley 大鼠糖尿病的影响。通过腹腔内注射单剂量的链脲佐菌素（150mg/kg 体重）诱导糖尿病。在诱导糖尿病后，用半合成饮食给大鼠喂食从干椰子核中分离出的纯化 CKP 45 天。在实验期结束后，评估血清葡萄糖、胰岛素、参与葡萄糖代谢的不同关键酶的活性、肝糖原水平以及胰腺的组织病理学。还使用 HPLC 测定 CKP 中单个氨基酸的含量。结果表明，CKP 含有大量的精氨酸。CKP 喂养可减轻糖尿病大鼠血糖和胰岛素水平的升高。与对照组相比，治疗糖尿病大鼠的肝糖原水平和血清中糖代谢酶的活性恢复到正常水平。组织病理学显示，与对照组相比，CKP 喂养可减少治疗大鼠与糖尿病相关的胰腺损伤。这些结果清楚地表明 CKP 具有很强的抗糖尿病活性，这可能是由于其通过精氨酸对胰腺β细胞再生的影响。
