Ameliorative Effect of Vitamin C on Diabetes-Induced Damages in Nucleic Acids of Testicular Tissues

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) can be characterized by over-production and under-utilization of carbohydrates and varying degrees of abnormal lipid and protein metabolism. The complications of diabetes mellitus affect various organs and systems in the body including the reproductive system. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is an essential micronutrient for maintaining normal metabolic processes and homeostasis within the human body. In the current study, the diabetes-induced alterations on the nucleic acids of rat testicular tissues and the effects of low and high doses of ascorbic acid administration were investigated using Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy coupled with an unsupervised technique, namely principal component analysis (PCA). Methods: Male Wistar rats were treated with streptozotocin (STZ) to induce DM. One week after STZ administration, the diabetic rats were treated with a low dose of ascorbic acid (15 mg/kg) and a high dose of ascorbic acid (100 mg/kg) for 6 weeks. The dissected testicular tissues were studied by FTIR spectroscopy. PCA was applied to their spectra. Results: This study revealed diabetes-induced global contextual alterations on nucleic acids, particularly RNAs and DNAs in diabetic samples. Low dose ascorbic acid administration was found to be more effective than higher doses in restoring the effect of diabetes on nucleic acids. The PCA results presented a successful discrimination of the diabetic group from the control and Vitamin C treated groups, and showed especially the ameliorative effect of low dose Vitamin C. Conclusion: Low dose Vitamin C was found to be more effective in combating diabetes-induced alterations in nucleic acids. ATRFTIR spectroscopy combined with multivariate data analyses demonstrated the beneficial effect of Vitamin C administration on nucleic acid content of diabetic testicular tissue based on the spectral differences.