Abstract

Hyperglycemia is a metabolic disorder that results in excessive production of free radicals which leads to severe oxidative damage of cell components like lipids, proteins and DNA. Supplementation with flaxseed oil has been reported to reduce oxidative stress. Eighty male albino rats were used in this study, and were divided randomly into four groups: control, flaxseed, diabetic and treated groups. Blood glucose and plasma insulin were measured, and insulin resistance was calculated. Membrane cholesterol, triglycerides and total lipids were estimated. Also, membrane advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP), malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were determined. Urinary 8-hydroxyguanosine was estimated by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The data showed that flaxseed oil significantly decreased fasting blood glucose which may be related to significant decrease in insulin resistance. Also, there was a decrease in oxidative stress parameters indicating the beneficial effect of flaxseed oil in scavenging free radicals. Positive correlation was found between insulin resistance and oxidative stress parameters (MDA and 8-OHdG). We concluded that, flaxseed oil administration has a beneficial effect on decreasing insulin resistance in diabetic rats through the scavenging of free radicals and increasing antioxidant enzymes.

Key words: Cell membrane, flaxseed oil, oxidative stress, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), diabetes mellitus.