2. Academic Validation
  3. Maltol, a food flavor enhancer, attenuates diabetic peripheral neuropathy in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

Maltol, a food flavor enhancer, attenuates diabetic peripheral neuropathy in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

  • Food Funct. 2018 Dec 13;9(12):6287-6297. doi: 10.1039/c8fo01964a.
Nan Guo 1,  Caina Li,  Quan Liu,  Shuainan Liu,  Yi Huan,  Xing Wang,  Guoliang Bai,  Miaomiao Yang,  Sujuan Sun,  Caimin Xu,  Zhufang Shen
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Functions of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China. [email protected] [email protected].
PMID: 30411095 DOI: 10.1039/c8fo01964a
Abstract

Scope: Maltol (3-hydroxy-2-methy-4-pyrone), a potent antioxidative agent, typically is used to enhance flavor and preserve food. This study evaluated its effects on preventing diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats and explored its mechanisms.

Methods and results: We intraperitoneally injected Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats with STZ (65 mg kg-1, ip) and treated the rats with different doses of maltol after 4 weeks of injection. During treatment, we evaluated motor nerve conduction velocity (MNCV) and thermal and mechanical hyperalgesia and assayed the oxidative stress, Na+-K+-ATPase activity, and Apoptosis. Repeated treatment with maltol for 12 weeks significantly improved thermal and mechanical hyperalgesia, increased the MNCV, elevated the Na+-K+-ATPase activity, and ameliorated oxidative stress and Apoptosis in STZ-induced diabetic rats. We coincubated RSC96 cells, a Schwann cell line, with maltol and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2, 0.6 mM). Evidently, maltol increased cell viability and inhibited Apoptosis after injury by H2O2.

Conclusions: Maltol was demonstrated to prevent DPN development and may provide a new alternative for the treatment of DPN.

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