Hypoglycemic and Hypolipidemic Effect of Gamma-Irradiated Corn Silk on Male Albino Rats

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common and serious metabolic disorder throughout the world. Several herbs have been known to cure and control diabetes without any side effects. Corn silk (CS) is one of these herbs that are rich in phenolic and flavonoid compounds that have antioxidant activity. The purpose of this study is to investigate the hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effect of gamma-irradiated corn silk on male albino rats. In this study, γ-radiation processing resulted in increase the total phenolic contents and the total antioxidant activity of raw CS. The results of this work showed that dietary supplementation with raw and γ-irradiated corn silk to alloxan-induced diabetic rats resulted in an obvious enhancement in the damage effects induced by alloxan by increasing the level of insulin, high density lipoprotein (HDL-C), glutathione content and the activity of SOD and CAT. Also, a remarkable decrease was observed in the level of glucose and malondialdehyde and the concentration of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low densityand very Low density lipoprotein-cholesterol in addition to the activity of some liver enzymes as a result of treatment of alloxan-induced diabetic rats with raw and γ-irradiated corn silk. In conclusion, the results revealed that either raw or γ-irradiated corn silk reduced hyperglycemia in alloxan-induced diabetic rats may be used as a hypoglycemic food for diabetic patients. Further, this study indicated that treatment of CS with 10 kGy of gamma irradiation raised the total phenolic contents without any significant effect on its properties.