Authors : L.S. Ojulari, S.A. Biliaminu, E.O. Dangana, F.I. Abdulazeez and G.T. Adedeji
Abstract: Diabetes mellitus represents one of the greatest threats to modern global health. It contributes to oxidative stress and also induces inflammation and hence severe complications. Several drugs have been introduced so far to salvage this metabolic disease alongside its complications. This study was designed to investigate the effects of gliclazide on serum uric acid and C-reactive protein (a biomarker of inflammation) in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Sixteen Wistar rats were divided into 4 experimental groups with four rats each group A control (Drug vehicle), group B diabetic, group C diabetic/gliclazide (10 mg kg-1 twice daily for 28 days) and group D-normal/gliclazide (10 mg kg-1 twice daily for 28 days). At the end of the experimental period (4 weeks), animals in all groups were fasted for 12 h and blood samples were taken by cardiac puncture for determination of serum uric acid and C-Reactive Protein (CRP) levels. The study shows no significant statistical change in the serum uric acid levels (p>0.05) when the experimental groups were compared with the controls. On the other hand, there was significant decrease (p<0.05) in CRP levels when values in the controls was compared with diabetic treated and normal treated groups. This finding suggests that gliclazide possesses cardio-protective properties since, CRP has been implicated in atherosclerotic changes which is a common complication of diabetes mellitus. This may be through its anti-inflammatory effect by reducing the plasma concentration of IL-6 which is produced predominantly by macrophages and so prevents diabetic complications.
L.S. Ojulari, S.A. Biliaminu, E.O. Dangana, F.I. Abdulazeez and G.T. Adedeji, 2013. Effects of Gliclazide on Uric Acid and C-Reactive Protein in Alloxan-Induced Diabetic Rats. International Journal of Tropical Medicine, 8: 34-38.