Tammy Fernandez Romero, Sonia Clapes Hernandez, Gipsis Suarez Roman, Lucia Gonzalez, Sandra Rodriguez and Maria de los Angeles Garcia
Background: Previous studies have shown alpha- tocopherol favorable effects on biochemical markers of kidney function and tissue damage in experimental models of diabetes. However, few reports highlight its effect in organ morphology and even less its impact during pregnancy. The main goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of alpha- tocopherol supplementation on the renal tissue morphology of diabetic pregnant rats.
Methods: Diabetes was induced in female Wistar rats after intraperitoneal administration of streptozotocin. Healthy rats without any preparation were used as control subjects. Diabetic and control rats were grouped by receiving oral alpha-tocopherol 150 mg/kg/day or the vehicle during pregnancy. Euthanasia was practiced by bleeding under anesthesia at 20 days of gestation. Metabolic markers in plasma were analyzed and the kidney cortex morphology was studied by optical and electron microscopy. Statistic studies were performed using Kruskal Wallis, U Mann-Withney, Dunn and Fisher tests; significant differences were considered with p<0.05.
Results: Diabetic rats presented a lower weight gain than the control group, hyperglycemia, hypercholesterolemia and morphological alterations on renal cortex, with increase in glomerular volume and 70% of tubular damage. A lower incidence of kidney lesions was observed in diabetic rats that received alpha- tocopherol, with similar glomerular volumes to the control and improved of tubular cells with only 36% of damage. Conclusions: The administration of alpha- tocopherol to diabetic rats during gestation showed a protective effect on the morphology kidney. This result would be related to the antioxidant action of alpha- tocopherol, but further studies are needed to confirm this.