Effect of vitamin E on endogenous antioxidants in diabetic Wistar rats

Introduction: Diabetes Mellitus is one of the most common chronic noncommunicable diseases in the world, the fourth or fifth cause of death in most high-income countries. The World Health Organization reported in 2014 a prevalence of 422 million diabetics worldwide. Objective: to assess the effect of vitamin E on endogenous nucleophilic antioxidants in a biomodel of streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus. Methods: 40 male Wistar rats were used in four groups of 10 rats each: non-diabetic control, diabetic control, and two diabetic groups that received supplementation with doses of 25 and 50 mg / kg / day of vitamin E, respectively. Serum values of glucose, albumin, uric acid and total bilirubin were determined in all animals at 15-day intervals for one month. The U-tests of Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon with a significance level of 5% were used to compare the central values of the biochemical variables between the groups of rats. Results: with vitamin E supplementation in diabetic rats, no variation of serum albumin was found (median in g / L 36,70 and 36,40), while uric acid (median in mmol / L 76, 50 and 187.5) and BT (median in mmol / L 2.90 and 5.00) decreased significantly, regardless of the antioxidant dose. The reduction of uric acid was faster and at a lower dose than BT. Conclusions: supplementation with vitamin E in the experimental model of diabetes mellitus, reduces serum levels of nucleophilic antioxidants, which at high concentrations represent a risk of morbid processes associated with tissue damage.