JOURNAL OF ELEMENTOLOGY, vol.2, no.2023, pp.319-335, 2023 (SCI-Expanded)
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a lifelong metabolic disease with a high mortality rate, which reduces
the quality of life of many people worldwide. Metformin is a hypoglycemic drug usually used
to treat type 2 diabetes. Emodin has various protective effects and is widely used in holistic
medicine. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of emodin, metformin and the
emodin + metformin combination in liver and kidney tissues of rats with diabetes induced by
streptozotocin (STZ). For this purpose, 5 groups: I – Group Control (CG), II – Group STZ control
(SC), III – Group STZ + metformin 250 mg kg-1 (SM), IV – Group STZ + emodin 40 mg kg-1 (SE)
and V – Group STZ + metformin 250 mg kg-1 + emodin 40 mg kg-1 (SME) were formed with
7 rats in each group. Liver, kidney and blood samples were taken at the end of the experiment.
In the study, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), glutathione reductase (GR), reduced glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in liver and kidney tissues were analyzed. In addition, histopathology
and immunohistochemical and serum toxicity biomarkers (AST, ALT, BUN and CREA) were analyzed. According to the experimental results, there was an increase in serum biomarker
values in the SC group compared to the control group (p values for AST, ALT, CREA and BUN
were p=0.005, p=0.001, p=0.006, p=0.001, respectively). Some antioxidant parameter values
increased in SM, SE and SME groups compared to CG and SC groups (p=0.001 for GR in liver
tissue and p=0.032 for GPX in kidney tissue). Histopathologic and immunohistochemical observations also supported biochemical parameter findings. In conclusion, oxidative stress parameters in liver and kidney tissue, serum samples, histopathologic and immunologic findings suggest that metformin, emodin and the metformin + emodin combination have positive effects
on nephrotoxic and hepatotoxic side effects