In vivo antidiabetic effects of phenolic compounds of spinach, mustard, and cabbage leaves in mice

Arif Mehmood; Alam Zeb; Muhammad Khalil Ateeq

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16616

In vivo antidiabetic effects of phenolic compounds of spinach, mustard, and cabbage leaves in mice

Heliyon. 2023 May 27;9(6):e16616. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16616. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Authors

Arif Mehmood¹, Alam Zeb², Muhammad Khalil Ateeq³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biotechnology, University of Malakand, Chakdara, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
² Department of Biochemistry, University of Malakand, Chakdara, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
³ Department of Basic Sciences, University of Veterinary and Animals Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan.

Abstract

Leafy vegetables are considered to have health-promoting potentials, mainly attributed to bioactive phenolic compounds. The antidiabetic effects of spinach, mustard, and cabbage were studied by feeding their phenolic-rich aqueous extracts to alloxan-induced diabetic mice. The antioxidant, biochemical, histopathological, and hematological indices of the control, diabetic, and treated mice were studied. Phenolic compounds present in the extracts were identified and quantified using HPLC-DAD. Results showed ten, nineteen, and eleven phenolic compounds in spinach, mustard, and cabbage leave aqueous extracts, respectively. The body weight, tissue total glutathione (GSH) contents, fasting blood sugar, liver function tests, renal function tests, and lipid profile of the mice were affected by diabetes and were significantly improved by the extract treatments. Likewise, hematological indices and tissues histological studies also showed recovery from diabetic stress in treated mice. The study's findings highlight that the selected leafy vegetables potentially mitigate diabetic complications. Among the studied vegetables, cabbage extract was comparatively more active in ameliorating diabetic stress.

Keywords: Antidiabetic potential; Cabbage; Diabetes; Mustard; Phenolic compounds; Spinach.