Purpose: Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is an established model for studying various metabolic diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of resveratrol as a natural polyphenol on reducing inflammation caused by hyperglycemia (diabetes) and its effect on digestive tissue as well as TNF-α, IFN-γ, and INL1β genes in zebrafish.
Methods: Within a 20-day period, the research was performed on 120 adult zebrafish, which were randomly classified into eight groups: two experimental treatments (induced glucose = +G) and (without glucose = -G), where each main group was as follows: CTRL = control and RSV resveratrol with doses 10, 20, and 30 μmol/L. At the end of the period, the blood glucose level was measured using glucose test strip, staining of intestinal tissue was done by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), and expression of INF-γ, IL1-β, and TNF-α genes extracted from the intestinal was measured via internal method RT-PCR. Data analysis in this study was performed using SPSS software version 21. One-way ANOVA and mean comparison of treatments by Duncan test were used for data analysis. All statistical analyses were performed at a significant level (P < 0.5) where the mean data were presented with standard deviation.
Results: According to the results, the lowest blood sugar level at the end of the experiment belonged to the group (G-RSV20) where no significant difference was observed between treatments (P > 0.05). The highest expression of IL1-β gene belonged to the (G + CTRL) group (P < 0.05), while the (G + RSV20) group showed the lowest expression of the INF-γ gene and had a significant difference with other groups (P < 0.05). In (G + RSV10) treatment, the lowest expression of TNF-α gene was observed and there was no significant difference with other treatments (P > 0.05). Resveratrol would improve the absorption of nutrients in the intestinal tissue by increasing the number of goblet cells as well as the width and height of the villi.
Conclusion: Collectively, this study indicated that treatment with resveratrol could improve metabolic-mediated performances by reducing blood glucose, increasing food absorption in the intestine tissue, and reducing the expression of inflammatory genes in type 2 diabetic zebrafish model.
Keywords: Anti-inflammation; Diabetes mellitus; Gene expression; Hyperglycemia; Resveratrol; Zebrafish.
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