ABSTRACT
Fructose is a monosaccharide, also known as fruit sugar, and is metabolized differently from other sugars, it is naturally occurring hexose, is a component of many fruits, vegetables, and sweeteners. It is absorbed primarily in the jejunum and metabolized in the liver. Dietary fructose has resulted in increases in blood pressure, uric acid, and lactic acid. People who are hypertensive, hyperinsulinemic, hypertriglyceridemic, non-insulin-dependent diabetic or postmenopausal are more susceptible to these adverse effects of dietary fructose than healthy young subjects.
This study examined the effect of ethanolic extract of mistletoe on Alanine aminotransferase in high fructose treated rat, twenty male and twenty female wristar rats weighing between 150g- 250g were divided into four groups, each with five animals. They were acclimatizing to their new environment for two weeks. Food (grower mash) and water are treated according to the group. Group one (control group) received only feed and drinking water during the entire study: Group two received feed and increase concentration of fructose solution from 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% every two weeks in place of drinking water for 8 weeks : Group 3 received feed, increase concentration of fructose solution from 10%, 20%, 30%,and 40% every 2 weeks in place of drinking water and administration of nifedipine a standard drug at a dose of 0.28mg/kg body weight daily all for a period of 8 weeks. While Group four received feed, fructose solution in place of drinking solution and administration of ethanolic extract mistletoe at a dose of 600mg/kg body weight respectively. Body weight and fasting blood sugar (FBS) of rats were measured weekly. At the end of 8 weeks the animal were sacrificed. Blood sample and the liver were collected and the lives are weighted and homogenized to carry out the biochemical effect of high fructose on Alanine aminotransferase. Result showed that in group one is increase in their body weight, Group two showed no significant increase in their fasting blood sugar, Group three of the female rat showed significant decrease in their Alanine aminotransferase level. Group four showed decrease in Alanine aminotransferase level. Overall Result suggested that. I recommend that further research on the effect of high fructose on fasting blood sugar.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 FRUCTOSE
Fructose is a natural sugar found in many fruits, which has also been implicated as the main cause of symptoms in some patients with chronic diarrhea or other functional bowel disturbances. In addition, excessive fructose consumption may be responsible in part for the increasing prevalence of obesity, diabetes mellitus, and non alcoholic fatty liver disease. Although the long-term effects of fructose consumption have not been adequately studied in humans, the available evidence suggests it may be more harmful than is generally recognized. Consumption of high levels of fructose leads to the development of hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, hypertension, and hypertriacylglyceridemia (Gerrits and Tsalikian 1993). It also favors hepatic lipogenesis and is responsible for the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) (Ouyang et al. 2008), along with cardiovascular complications.Fructose rich diet induces hyperglycemia which exhibits more oxidative stress and It also induces hyperlipidemia which causes oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation and reactive substances with the accompanying deficient anti-oxidant system (Basciano et. al., 2005). High fructose intake has been hypothesized to be a cause of insulin resistance, obesity, elevated LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, leading to metabolic syndrome (Elliott et al., 2002). In preliminary research, fructose consumption was correlated with obesity (Lustig, 2006). A study in mice showed that a high fructose intake may increase adiposity (Jürgens et al., 2005). A journal article reports that,”…fructose given alone increased the blood glucose almost as much as a similar amount of glucose (78% of the glucose-alone area)” (Wylie-Rosett et al., 2004). Fructose is often recommended for diabetics because it does not trigger the production of insulin by pancreatic β cells , probably because β cells have low levels of GLUT5 (Sato et al., 1996) although the net effect for both diabetics and non-diabetics is debated. Studies show that fructose consumed before a meal may even lessen the glycemic response of the meal (Patricia et al., 2002).
Although fructose was proposed as natural substitute for sucrose in diabetic patients, it was found that increased dietary intake of fructose is associated with rise in plasma triglycerides, hepatic steatosis, impaired glucose tolerance, insulin resistance and even high blood pressure (Havel, 2005). Consumption of sweetened beverages accounts for the major portion of fructose intake, the remaining being added sugar. In the diet, fructose is consumed in various amounts as fruits, honey, beverages sweetened with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) or sucrose (Le and Tappy, 2006).
Vartanian et al., (2007) reported that sweetened beverages consumption was associated with increased body weight and increased the risk of developing type 2 diabetes but this effect is essentially linked to body weight changes(Palmer, 2008).
1.2 MISTLETOE
Some plants, apart from serving as food, have also been known to exhibit medicinal properties. Although plant based natural medicines are popularly acclaimed to be safe, scientists advocate for proper toxicological studies (Orhue et al., 2008) in other to ensure safety in the use of natural medicines.
Mistletoe is a semi parasitic plant and a variety of other plants (Ekhaise et al., 2008) used by most communities in Nigeria for the treatment and management of ailments such as diabetes, blood pressure, asthma, epilepsy and cancer.The mistletoe leaf extract is said to possess antidiabetic (Obatomi et al., 1994), immunomodulatory (Solar et al., 1998), bacteriostatic (Fulder, 1998) and therapeutic values for many other ailments.
Mistletoe (Viscum album L.) has been used to treat hypertension, epilepsy, exhaustion, anxiety, arthritis, vertigo, and degenerative inflammation of the joints. It has medicinal properties with the effect of lowering blood pressure and in the treatment of diseases of the spleen, complaints associated with menstruation, infertility, ulcers, and tumours (Barnes et al., 2003).
Certain in-vivo and in-vitro studies have suggested that some mistletoe constituents, like the alkaloids are anti-carcinogenic (Khwaja et al., 1986) while other numerous clinical trials have shown that subcutaneous injections of mistletoe extracts relieve carcinogenesis in people with cancer of various organs (Kleijnen et al., 1994; Schulz et al., 1997). Others have reported that mistletoe extracts can stimulate insulin secretion from pancreas cells and may improve blood sugar levels in people with diabetes (Gray and Flatt, 1999). Mistletoe extracts have been reported to keep the natural killer cells (white blood cells) which makes up the immune system to fight foreign cells and cancer cells in which the infusion of mistletoe prevented the inhibition of natural killer cell activity (Schink et al., 2007). Alkaloids nitrogen-based substances that are found in products such as coffee and vincristine, which is also an anti-cancer drug. Viscotoxins are small proteins synthesized by mistletoe that are proapoptotic (encouraging programmed cell death) and stimulates immunity. Lectins produced by the mistletoe plant are glycoproteins, meaning it contains both sugars and proteins.
1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES
The aim of this research work is to study the Modulating effect of mistletoe extract on Alanine AminoTransferase status of frutose treated rats
OBJECTIVES
Ø To determine the body weight changes in experimental rat.
Ø To compare the effect of high fructose on Alanine Aminotransferase.
Ø To compare the Modulating effect of mistletoe extract on rats.