Abstract

Aim:This study was carried out to determine the effects of magnesium supplementation on Glucose transporter 4 (GLUT-4), Phosphofructokinase 1 (PFK-1) and Glucagon like-peptide 1 (GLP-1) in type 2 streptozotocin-nicotinamide induced diabetic rats.

Methods:Total of 24 Wister rats (n=6) were used for this study and the treatment was for 28 days. Group 1: Rats (Normal Control) orally given distilled water; Group 2: Metformin treated diabetic rats orally given 100 mg/kg body weight metformin; Group 3: Orally given 100 mg/kg body weight metformin with 1000 mg/kg body weight magnesium supplement; Group 4:Diabetic Untreated control rats given distilled water. Measured data was analyzed statistically using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and graphically by Graph prism 8.0.2. Tukey test was used as the Post hoc test and statistical significance was considered at p<0.05.

Results:The GLUT-4 expression of Group 3 were significantly (p<0.05) higher when compared with Group 4. However, Group 1 expression of GLUT-4 was significantly (p<0.05) high in comparison with the Diabetic Groups.Group 3 was significantly (p<0.05) higher when compared with Group 2 in the mRNA expression of PFK-1 at week 4. There was significant (p<0.05) increase in the expression of GLP-1 of the treated rats but the metformin-magnesium supplement treated group showed higher value when compared with Diabetic Untreated Group. Moreover, Group 3 induced a significant (p<0.05) increase in the expression of GLP-1 in comparison with Group 2 while the Normal control was significantly (p<0.05) higher than the Diabetic groups.This study demonstrates that magnesium may mediate effective metabolic control by stimulating the insulin sensitivity, and increased levels of GLUT-4, PFK-1 and GLP-1 in diabetic rats.

Conclusion:This suggests magnesium supplementation as an adjunct therapy with metformin, helps in improving GLUT-4, PFK-1 and GLP-1 expression.

Keywords

metformin, magnesium supplement, glucose transporter 4, phosphofructokinase 1, glucagon like-peptide 1