Asian Journal of Research and Reports in Endocrinology

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Emzor Omega 3 Fish Oil on Beta Cell function of Streptozotocin Induced Diabetic Rats.

Study Design:  An experimental study.

Place and Duration of Study:  Animal House, Department of Applied and Environmental Biology, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt and University of Port Harcourt Rivers State, Nigeria, between February 2020 and August 2020.

Methodology: Thirty Six (36) albino rats were purchased and allowed to acclimatize for two (2) weeks in the laboratory at the animal farm house of the Department of Animal and Environmental Biology, Rivers State University. They were fed the normal rat feed (Chow feed) and water was allowed ad libitum.  The rats were weighed and randomly grouped into six (6) groups with six rats in each group. Group 1 (Negative control) was placed on normal diet while groups 2 to 6 were placed on a high fat diet (HFD) prior to the induction with Streptozotocin to achieve diabetes and the animals were treated according to their groupings for four weeks by means of oral gavage. The dose of Emzor Omega 3 Fish Oil administered to the rats was extrapolated from human doses. The high fat diet was prepared by mixing the animal feed (Chow diet) with margarine in a ratio of 3:1. After each period of treatments, blood samples were collected from the rats at the end of the treatments via cardiac puncture by anaesthetizing the rats with chloroform after a six (6) hour fast. Fasting blood glucose was determined using the Glucose Oxidase method, Insulin Resistance was determined using the homeostatic model assessment for Insulin resistance, plasma insulin and C-peptide levels were measured by ELISA and molecular study was carried out by three stages involving Lysate, Extraction and Real time PCR, and the GC–MS analysis of bioactive compounds from Emzor Omega 3 Fish Oil was done using Agilent Technologies GC systems with GC-7890A/MS-5975C model. Data generated were analysed using SPSS version 22.0 of windows statistical package. Results were considered statistically significant at 95% confidence interval (p < 0.05).

Results: After week 1 - 4 of exposure, the mean INS (Insulin) value of the Negative control group (NC), Positive control (PC) group, diabetic groups exposed for weeks 1, 2, 3 and 4 expressed in mU/ml were 3.78 ± 0.11, 4.94 ± 0.19, 4.58 ± 0.12, 4.31 ± 0.05, 4.03 ± 0.02 and 3.81 ± 0.03  respectively. The mean C-pep (C-peptide) value expressed in ng/ml were 2.91 ± 0.1, 3.98 ± 0.19, 3.95 ± 0.11, 3.89 ± 0.03, 3.75 ± 0.08 and 3.29 ± 0.05 respectively. The mean FBS (Fasting blood sugar) value expressed in mmol/l were 4.36 ± 0.14, 18.65 ± 0.41, 13.43 ± 0.65, 13.30 ± 0.70, 10.85 ± 0.19 and 8.35 ± 0.27 respectively.  The mean HOMA-IR, HOMA-B and HOMA-S (Homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance and beta cell function) values were respectively 0.71 ± 0.04, 4.10 ± 0.20, 2.70 ± 0.19, 2.56 ± 0.16, 1.95 ± 0.03 and 1.41 ± 0.04 for HOMA-IR, 84.57 ± 12.11, 6.53 ± 0.25, 9.35 ± 0.46, 9.06 ± 0.63, 11.00 ± 0.38 and 16.00 ± 1.10  for HOMA-B and 1.47 ± 0.12, 0.25 ± 0.01, 0.37 ± 0.02, 0.39 ± 0.03, 0.51 ± 0.01 and 0.71 ± 0.02 for HOMA-S. The mean Abl1 gene value were 40.70 ± 1.55, 24.07 ± 0.17, 47.04 ± 0.41, 49.83 ± 0.96, 51.76 ± 1.23 and 55.77 ± 0.56 respectively. The mean GLUT 2 gene value were 66.09 ± 17.52, 23.34 ± 19.53, 51.08 ± 18.06, 57.53 ± 10.56, 59.87 ± 9.41 and 63.16 ± 4.35 respectively.

Conclusion:In this study, supplementation with Emzor Omega 3 Oil had measurable therapeutically potential effect on streptozotocin induced diabetic rats and as such provides evidence that Emzor Omega 3 Oil improve insulin sensitivity in insulin resistant diabetic rats and the expression of GLUT 2 gene which is the major transporter of glucose in pancreatic beta cells is improved in the treated groups as against that seen in the untreated diabetic induced group.