OBJECTIVE

Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by chronic hyperglycemia. Trigonella foenum-graecum (fenugreek) and swimming training have previously been reported to have hypoglycemic and antioxidant effects. We aimed to evaluate the effects of swimming training and fenugreek aqueous extract, alone and in combination, on plasma glucose and cardiac antioxidant enzymes activity of streptozotocin-induced diabetes in rats.

METHODS

We divided 70 male Wistar rats equally into 7 groups: diabetic control (DC), healthy control (HC), swimming (S), fenugreek seed extract (1.74 g/kg) (F1), fenugreek seed extract (0.87 g/kg) (F2), swimming + fenugreek seed extract (1.74 g/kg) (SF1), and swimming + fenugreek seed extract (0.87 g/kg) (SF2). We used streptozotocin for the induction of diabetes. Statistical analyses were performed using the statistical program SPSS.

RESULTS

We did not detect any significant differences in body weight in the F1, F2, S, SF1 and SF2 groups compared with the DC group (p>0.05). The results also revealed that the hypoglycemic effect of combined swimming and fenugreek was significantly stronger (p<0.05) than either of those alone. The F1, S, SF1 and SF2 groups showed improved superoxide dismutase activity with respect to the DC group (p<0.05). Catalase activity in the F1, S, SF1 and SF2 groups were significantly higher than those of the DC group (p<0.05). Glutathione peroxidase activity in the S, SF1 and SF2 groups were significantly increased compared with the DC group (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that the combination of fenugreek seed extract and swimming could be useful for the treatment of hyperglycemia and cardiac oxidative stress induced by type 1 diabetes mellitus.