Objectives: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a spectrum of common metabolic disorders, arising from a variety of pathogenic mechanisms resulting in hyperglycemia that causes chronic micro- and macro-vascular complications. Vitamin C is structurally similar to glucose and can replace it in many chemical reactions and thus is effective in the prevention of non-enzymatic glycosylation of proteins. Hence, the present study taken up to see the effect of supplementation of Vitamin C on blood glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) along with metformin in experimentally-induced diabetic rabbits.
Methods: Twenty-four adult New Zealand white rabbits (1.5–2.5 kg) were divided into four groups, each containing six rabbits. Group 1: Normal control (distilled water); Group 2: Metformin (23.33 mg/kg) is given orally; Group 3: Metformin (23.33 mg/kg) plus Vitamin C 250 mg are given orally; and Group 4: Metformin (23.33 mg/kg) plus Vitamin C 500 mg are given orally. Animals were treated for 30 days. The blood samples were collected on days 0 and 30 from the marginal ear vein of rabbits for the estimation of blood glucose and HbA1c levels.
Results: Statistically analyzed by ANOVA test followed by post hoc Tukey’s test using GraphPad Prism software. Results shown that Vitamin C 500 mg oral supplementation with metformin had very highly significantly reduced HbA1c levels by 40.12% (p = 0.0001***) and blood glucose levels by 49.12% (p = 0.0003***), whereas Vitamin C 250 mg oral supplementation with metformin also significantly reduced HbA1c levels by 25.49% (p = 0.0001***) and blood glucose levels by 42.95% (p = 0.0026**) when compared to metformin alone, which reduced HbA1c levels by 22% (p = 0.0001***) and blood glucose levels by 39.58% (p = 0.0001***).
Conclusion: Oral supplementation of Vitamin C 500 mg/250 mg to the metformin was superior in reducing HbA1c levels and blood glucose levels compared to metformin alone in rabbits. Hence, Vitamin C oral supplementation may be helpful in lowering blood glucose levels and HbA1c levels and improving glycemic control in Type 2 DM.
The effect of melatonin and vitamin C treatment on the experimentally induced tympanosclerosis: study in rats