Novel antioxidant astaxanthin-s-allyl cysteine biconjugate diminished oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction to triumph diabetes in rat model

The present study determines the effect of administration of novel antioxidant astaxanthin-s-allyl cysteine biconjugate (AST-SAC) against streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus (DM) in rats. AST-SAC (1 mg/kg/day) was treated against DM in rats for 45 days. The oxidative stress, antioxidants level, insulin secretion, activities of various carbohydrate metabolizing enzymes were studied. The glucose uptake in L6 myotubes was studied. In addition, in silico analysis of interaction of AST-SAC with proteins such as insulin receptor (IR) and 5′-adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) were carried out. Administration of AST-SAC in DM rats has protected the mitochondrial function (decreased oxidative stress and normalized oxidative phosphorylation activities) and antioxidant capacity of the pancreas which has resulted in beta cells rejuvenation and insulin secretion restoration. AST-SAC decreased the alpha-glucosidases activities to bring glycemic control in DM rats. Due to these effects the glycoprotein components and lipids were restored to near normalcy in DM rats. AST-SAC protected the antioxidant status of liver, kidney and plasma; and curbed the progression of secondary complications of DM. AST-SAC treatment stimulated glucose uptake in L6 myotubes in in vitro. To support this observation, AST-SAC interacted with proteins such as IR and AMPK in silico. AST-SAC can be considered as “multi-target-directed ligand”, that is, through these manifold effects, AST-SAC has been able to prevail over DM in rats. [Display omitted] •Astaxanthin-s-allyl cysteine biconjugate (AST-SAC) eased diabetes mellitus (DM).•AST-SAC improved overall as well as mitochondrial antioxidant status against DM.•AST-SAC protected the mitochondrial function against DM.•AST-SAC reduced small intestinal α-glucosidases activities against DM.•AST-SAC simulated glucose uptake in skeletal muscle cells.