Chinese ginger (Boesenbergia rotunda) mitigates diabetic nephropathy and cardiomyopathy by regulating oxidative inflammatory pathway.

Chinese ginger (Boesenbergia rotunda) is a culinary and traditional medicinal plant in Southeast Asia and Indo-China regions with several medicinal benefits. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of Chinese ginger extract against diabetic nephropathy and cardiomyopathy and the associated signaling pathways. Animals were randomly assigned to groups; control rats, diabetic rats, diabetic rats treated with 100 and 400 mg/kg of the B. rotunda EtOAc fraction (BRE). Treatment was administered for 5 successive weeks via oral gavage. Thereafter, the rats were evaluated for fasting blood glucose, tumour necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-6, interleukin-1 beta, reduced glutathione, superoxide dismutase, catalase, lipid peroxidation activities. Gene expression levels of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2, and Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 were examined. Cardiorenal histopathological and immunohistochemical were performed to assess tissue damage. BRE administration to diabetic rats notably ameliorated changes in body weight, kidney and heart weight and fasting blood glucose level. Furthermore, in diabetic rats, BRE significantly reduced malonaldehyde, tumour necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-6, interleukin-1 beta levels considerably with increasing activity of antioxidant enzymes in the kidney and cardiac tissues of rats treated with BRE. Diabetic rats treated with BRE showed upregulated mRNA expression levels of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2, while Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 mRNA expression in the kidney and cardiac tissues were downregulated. In addition, BRE treatment significantly reduced the cardiorenal protein expression of Bcl2 and collagen IV in the immunohistochemical analyses. From the results of this study, it can be concluded that B. rotunda exerts cardiorenal protective effect on diabetic rats due to its antidiabetic and antioxidant and may be considered a treatment for T2DM.