Effect of Pumpkin (Cucurbita Sp.) Seeds and Husk Tomato (Tomatillo) on Obese Rats Suffering from Diabetes

Nowadays, diabetes represents one of the major metabolic ailment challenge in the human community. The aim of this study was to scrutinize effects of pumpkin seeds, husk tomato and their combination on diabetic-obese rats. Forty eight male albino rats (Sprague Dawley Strain) were divided into two main groups. The first main group (n=6) rats were fed on a basal diet (control negative, C-). The second main group (n=42) rats were fed on a high-fat diet (HFD) for six weeks to induce obesity. The rats in the second group (obese group) were administered with alloxan (120mg alloxan /kg bodyweight) to induce diabetes. Four days later, body weight gain was estimated for all rats in the first and second main groups and blood samples were collected from the eye ball of all rats to determine the levels of glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides. Thereafter, the second group rats were subdivided into seven subgroups, subgroup 1 (control positive, C+) animals fed on HFD, subgroup 2 (PS5) and 3 (PS10) animals were fed on HFD containing 5and 10 %driedpumpkinseeds, respectively, subgroup 4 (HT5) and 5 (HT10) animals were fed on HFD containing 5and 10 % husk tomato, respectively and subgroup 6 (PH3) and 7 (PH6) animals were fed on HFD containing 3 % pumpkinseeds+ 3 % husk tomato and 6 % pumpkinseeds+ 6 % husk tomato, respectively. Therefore 8 groups were designed and treatment lasted for 42 days. Positive control (obese-diabetic) rats exhibited significant (P0.05) increase in body weight gain, relative organs weight, lipid profile except HDL, kidney functions, liver enzymes, glucose and leptin as compared to the negative control rats. Supplementing obese-diabetic rats with pumpkin seeds, husk tomato or their combination decreased (Pless than0.05|) body weight gain, relative liver and kidney weights, serum cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, VLDL, uric acid, urea nitrogen, creatinine, AST, ALT ALP, glucose and leptin, while HDL increased. The best improvement was shown in rats given6 % pumpkinseeds+6 % husk tomato. In conclusion, pumpkin seed and husk tomato revealed signs of improvement in obese-diabetic rats which might be a good approach to be applied in human suffering from diabetes complications.