Korean J Nutr.  2009 Jan;42(1):5-13.

The Improvement of Chaga Mushroom (Inonotus Obliquus) Extract Supplementation on the Blood Glucose and Cellular DNA Damage in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

• Park YK
• Kim JS
• Jeon EJ
• Kang MH

Abstract

Mushrooms have become a largely untapped source of powerful new pharmaceutical products that poses anti-inflammatory, and antimutagenic, and antioxidant activities. The antioxidant effects of the mushroom may be partly explained by protecting cellular components against free radical. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effect of chaga mushroom against diabetes, via the mitigation of oxidative stress and reduction of blood glucose, in streptozotocininduced diabetic rats. Rats were rendered diabetic by intravenous administration of STZ through tail at a dose of 50 mg/kg. Animals were allocated into four groups with 8 rats each. The control and diabetic control group were fed withstandard rat feed. The other diabeic groups, the low chaga extract group and the high chaga extract group were fed ad libitum using 0.5 g/kg and 5 g/kg of chaga mushroom extract, respectively, for 4 weeks. The blood glucose levels in the two chaga extract groups showed a tendency to decrease but did not reach statistical significance after the supplementation. Leukocyte DNA damage, expressed as tail length, was found to be significantly lower in the high chaga extract group than in the diabetic control group (p > 0.05). Plasma level of total radical-trapping antioxidant potential (TRAP) was tend to be higher in the high chaga extract group compared with the diabetic control group. Erythrocyte antioxidant enzyme activities of two groups did not differ. Although we did not obtain beneficial effect on lowering blood glucose levels in the STZ-induced diabetic rats, this results suggest that the chaga mushroom extracts may initially act on protecting endogenous DNA damage in the short-term experiment.

Keyword

chaga mushroom; blood glucose; supplementation; DNA damage; streptozotocin; rats; diabetes

MeSH Terms

Administration, Intravenous
Agaricales
Animals
Antioxidants
Blood Glucose
DNA
DNA Damage
Erythrocytes
Leukocytes
Oxidative Stress
Pharmaceutical Preparations
Plasma
Rats
Streptozocin
Tail
Antioxidants
Blood Glucose
DNA
Pharmaceutical Preparations
Streptozocin