evaluation effects of quercetin on liver apoptosis in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat

background: quercetin is a strong antioxidant and long-term treatment of stz-diabetic animals and it has been shown to reduce oxidative stress.   objective: antioxidants have essential effect on spermatogenesis and sperm parameters. enhanced oxidative stress and changes in antioxidant capacity are considered to play an important role in the pathogenesis of chronic diabetes mellitus.   methods: wistar male rat (n=40) were allocated into three groups, control group (n=10) and quercetin (qr) group that received 15mg/kg (ip) qr, (n=10), and diabetic group that received 55mg/kg (ip) streptozotocin (stz) (n=20) which was subdivided to two groups of 10 stz group and treatment group. treatment group received 55mg/kg (ip) stz plus15mg/kg qr, daily for,4 weeks, respectively however, the control group just received an equal volume of distilled water daily(ip) . diabetes was induced by a single (ip) injection of streptozotocin (55mg/kg) .animals were kept in standard condition. in 28day after inducing diabetic 5cc blood were collected for tac,mda and ox-ldl levels and liver tissues of rat in whole groups were removed then prepared for apoptosis analysis by tunel method.   results: apoptotic cells significantly decreased in group that has received 15mg/kg (ip) quercetin (p<0.05) in comparison to experimental groups (p<0.05). conclusion: since in our study 15mg/kg (ip) quercetin have significantly preventive effect on liver cells damages by reducing number of apoptotic cells in liver, so it seems that using it can be effective for treatment in diabetic rat.