The Beneficial Effect of Pumpkin Seed Oil on Metabolic and Oxidative Stress Markers in Streptozotocin Diabetic Rats Fed Low Zinc Diet

Abstract

The growing interest in foods that can be beneficial to human health has recently gained global attention. People have used pumpkin seed oil in cooking and traditional medicine since ancient times. Recent data indicated that it is used also in the pharmaceutical industry. So, this study was undertaken to evaluate the protective effect of pumpkin seed oil against oxidative damage in diabetic rats fed a low-zinc diet. Animals were equally divided into five groups: three groups were fed a sufficient-zinc diet, one non-diabetic group, and two groups diabetic rats, one untreated group and the other treated with a 5% pumpkin seed oil diet. The remaining two groups were diabetics fed a zinc-deficient diet, one non-treated and the other treated with 5% pumpkin seed oil diet. After four weeks of the treatments, fasting rats were sacrificed. Zinc deficiency led to decreased body weight (p<0.05), variations in biochemical parameters, zinc status (femur p<0.05), lipid peroxidation levels, and antioxidant (catalase, glutathione, glutathione peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase) values. The pancreas histological section also showed a disrupted architecture. Conversely, pumpkin seed oil supplementation markedly restored the above-mentioned parameters. In conclusion, it seems that pumpkin seed oil supplementation is a potent factor in mitigating the oxidative severity of zinc deficiency in diabetes through its effective antioxidant potential.