Dose dependent effect of glycyrrhizin on glycaemic control of type 2 diabetic rats

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of low and high dose of glycyrrhizin on body weight, fasting blood sugar level (FBSL), serum insulin and glycemic indices in high fat diet induced type 2 diabetic rats. METHODS: In this experimental study with intervention period of 34 weeks, rats were grouped into four experimental groups; Group-A: Normal control; Group-B: Diabetic control; Group-C: Glycyrrhizin-150 and Group-D: Glycyrrhizin-300. Diabetes mellitus was induced in rats by giving high fat diet with injection dexamethasone. At 32 weeks, body weight, FBSL, serum insulin, Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR), Homeostatic Model Assessment of beta cells (HOMA-β) and Quantitative Insulin Sensitivity Check Index (QUICKI) were estimated. Two experimental groups received glycyrrhizin 150 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg per oral per day till completion of 34 weeks in addition to the high fat diet. At 34 weeks all the parameters were re-estimated. RESULTS: It was observed that both doses of glycyrrhizin significantly reduced FBSL and insulin levels in group-C (95.00±8.23 mg/dl, 671.60±55.51 μIU/ml) and group-D (94.00±6.27 mg/dl, 675.00±44.96 μIU/ml) as compared to group-B (236.10±13.26 mg/dl, 1052.80±37.82 μIU/ml) [p-value<0.001] at 34 weeks. HOMA-IR decreased [group-C (157.62±19.39) and group-D (157.03±18.21) vs group-B (613.79±49.91)] whereas HOMA-β [group-C (2498.23±299.58) and group-D (2526.24±150.65) vs group-B (1546.87±106.81)] and QUICKI increased [group-C (0.208±0.00) and group-D (0.208±0.002) vs group-B (0.185±0.001)] (P-value<0.001). Body weight decreased insignificantly in group-C (344.00±30.21mg) (P-value>0.05) but significantly in group-D (293.20±42.54) as compared to group-B (372.00±24.03) [P-value<0.001]. CONCLUSION: Glycyrrhizin effectively improves glycaemic control in rat model of type 2 diabetes mellitus.