Antidiabetic Effect of Selenium-Laden Garlic (Allium sativum L.) in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

Background: Diabetes mellitus, being a prevalent and difficult-to-treat medical condition requires special concern from researchers and medicinal practitioners. Various research showed that Selenium (Se) and Allium sativum (garlic) have antidiabetic potential, indicating Se-laden garlic (SeG) to be an effective treatment strategy. This study investigated the effects of Se-laden garlic on the streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Materials and Methods: 66 Wistar rats were divided into 11 groups. Diabetes was chemically induced using streptozotocin (STZ). The effects of SeG extract were tested on groups of normal (NR) and diabetic rats (DR) with three oral doses (125 mg/kg BW (SeG1), 250 mg/kg BW (SeG2), and 500 mg/kg BW (SeG3)) for 5 weeks. Two groups of each were administered parallelly with normal garlic extract (NG) and a standard antidiabetic drug, Glibenclamide (Gli) for comparisons. Each group underwent evaluation to examine hematological and serum biochemical characteristics. Results: The oral administration of Gli, NG, SeG1, and SeG2 showed effectively reduced serum glucose and close to restored levels of liver function parameters together with several other restorative indications. Conclusion: The study supports the anti-diabetic properties of garlic leaves supplemented with a defined concentration of Se. The data collected can be used as a guideline to determine the dose range to predict the MTD (maximum tolerated dose) of SeG plants.