Diabetes and Diabetic Nursing Care

Curcumin, from the rhizomes of Curcuma longa, is characterized by its anti-diabetic and insulin -sensitizing activities. Curcumin has poor bioavailability that has been overcome in our research by using liposomes. Th is study aimed to measure the hepatic expression of glucose transporter-2 (GLUT-2) in high fat diet (HFD) induced type 2 diabetic rats, and to investigate the roles of liposomal curcumin in improving hepatic insulin resistance and glucose intolerance. In this study, we randomly divided Sprague-Dawley male rats into 6 groups: Control, high fat diet (HFD), treated HFD with oral curcumin (0.8 g/kg/3times/week), treated HFD with oral liposomal curcumin (0.03 g/kg/3times/week), treated HFD with subcutaneous liposomal curcumin (0.03 g/kg/3times/week) and treated HFD with interperitoneal liposomal curcumin (0.03g/kg/3times/week). Level of gene expression of GLUT-2, diabetic profi le parameters (fasting blood glucose level, serum insulin,HOMA-IR), rat weight, total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-C, LDL-C, liver function, kidney function, liver malondialdehyde, glutathione and catalase activity were measured in all groups. Feeding rats HFD for 8 weeks developed features of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. These features presented in decreased expression of GLUT-2 gene, increased body weight, hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, hypercholesterolemia (with increased LDL-Cholesterol and decreased HDL-Cholesterol) and hypertriglyceridemia and decreased glutathione and activity of catalase. Curcumin (free and liposomal) treatment increased gene expression of GLUT-2, improved levels of diabetic profile parameters, lipid profile, liver and kidney function

and decreased oxidative stress. Our results suggested that curcumin (especially liposomal) is a unique natural medicine against insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes mellitus in rats.