Indian Journal of Animal Research
SCOPUSWeb of Science
  • Year: 2026
  • Volume: 60
  • Issue: 3

Quercetin Verses Metformin, Comparative Efficacy on the Lipid Metabolism Gene Expression in Different Organs of Diabetic Wistar Rats

  • Author:
  • Nayab Khan1*, Asmatullah Kakar1, Imtiaz Rabbani2, Mahrukh Naseem1, Irfan Shahzad Sheikh3, Tahir Yaqub4, Muhammad Imran5
  • Total Page Count: 8
  • Page Number: 439 to 446

1Department of Zoology, University of Balochistan Quetta, Pakistan.

2Department of Physiology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan.

3Center for Advanced Studies in Vaccinology and Biotechnology, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan.

4Institute of Microbiology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan.

5Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan.

*Corresponding Author: Nayab Khan, Department of Zoology, University of Balochistan Quetta, Pakistan. Email: nayabkhan1919@yahoo.com

Abstract

Type 2 Diabetes mellitus, is a metabolic disorder responsible for disturbance in carbohydrate, protein and lipid metabolism. The objective of current study was to evaluate the effect of Quercetin and Metformin on serum lipid profile and gene expression involved in lipid metabolism.

Sixty-four (64) Wistar rats in a range of live body weight 196.75-198.19 grams, were divided in eight (8) groups (n=8 each); CONTROL, DIABETIC, DIAB+MET, DIAB+25Q, DIAB+50Q, NONDIAB+MET, NONDIAB+25Q and NONDIAB+50Q. A single dose of Streptozotocin drug @ 35 mg per kg was used for the induction of diabetes. The particular doses of Metformin and Quercetin were given by gavage on daily basis in their respective groups till the end of 14-week trial.

In case of FAS gene expression in liver, DIAB+MET (1.26±0.03), DIAB+25Q (1.31±0.02) and DIAB+50Q (1.19±0.04), suppresses the elevated expression compared to Diabetic group, while in case of SREBP-1c, both DIAB+MET (1.31±0.05) and DIAB+50Q (1.38±0.04) showed predominant results compared to DIAB+25Q. Moreover, for PPAR-α, DIAB+MET (0.87±0.06) exhibited considerable upregulation in comparison with DIAB+25Q (0.65±0.03) and DIAB+50Q (0.76±0.04). In adipose, FAS gene was significantly downregulated in DIAB+50Q (1.28±0.03) group as compared to other two diabetic treatment groups, however, for PPAR-γ gene, in term of significance both DIAB+MET (0.84±0.05) and DIAB+50Q (0.88±0.06) displayed statistically similar level of upregulation. In muscles, PPAR-α expression was best observed in DIAB+50Q (0.80±0.03) and DIAB+MET (0.76±0.02) compared to DIAB+25Q (0.59±0.03). Moreover, serum lipid profile (TC, HDL, TG, LDL and VLDL) was also significantly improved in Metformin and Quercetin treatment groups. In non-diabetic treatment groups, a non-significant difference was observed when compared to CONTROL group.

Keywords

Diabetes, Lipid, Metabolism, Metformin, Quercetin