Changes in renal hemodynamics in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats with L-ascorbic acid supplementation

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Yusuksawad, Mariem S.^; | Chaiyabutr, Narongsak

Affiliations: Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand | Department of Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

Note: [] Corresponding author. E-mail: myusuksawad@hotmail.com.

Abstract: The present study was designed to investigate whether L-ascorbic acid (AA) supplementation could prevent changes in renal hemodynamics in diabetic rats or not. The experiments were carried out in 48 male Sprague-Dawley rats. Diabetes mellitus was induced in rats by intravenous injection with streptozotocin (STZ) (55 mg/kg.bw), while the control rats were received citrate buffer alone. The renal hemodynamics was examined after the supplementation of AA (1 mg/l) for 8 and 16 weeks. The results demonstrated that AA could retard the increase (p<0.05) in renal vascular resistance (RVR) significantly compared with diabetic rats (STZ). Besides, at week 16, the effective renal plasma flow (ERPF) and the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of STZ-AA were significantly higher than those of STZ (p<0.05). In conclusion, supplementation of AA was able to ameliorate the renal dysfunction in STZ-induced diabetic rats by decrease in RVR concomitant with an increase in both ERPF and GFR.

Keywords: L-ascorbic acid, renal hemodynamics, streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

Journal: Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 391-399, 2006