Evaluation of antidiabetic activity of biogenic silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using Thymus serpyllum on STZ-induced diabetic BALB/c mice

Abstract

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus is one of the common metabolic disorder which is characterized by abnormal blood sugar level due to impaired insulin secretion or impaired insulin action or both. Metformin is most commonly used drug for the treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus but due to its slow mode of action and various side effects it shows poor and slow therapeutic response in patients. Currently, scientists are trying to tackle these limitations by developing nanomedicines. These nanoparticles based medicines are usually synthesized using biological sources due to low cytotoxicity. Among these silver nanoparticles are gaining more importance in current era due to their strong antidiabetic properties along with antioxidant, antibacterial potential. The current study was conducted to examine the antidiabetic effect of silver nanoparticles using aqueous leaf extract of Thymus serpyllum. Furthermore, to characterize these nanoparticles FTIR, XRD and SEM were used. The alpha amylase inhibition and antioxidant activity were checked through α amylase and DPPH radical scavenging assay respectively. To check the effect of silver nanoparticles on blood glucose levels FBG, IPGTT, ITT tests were employed on STZ induced BALB/c mice. To assess the morphological changes in the anatomy of liver, pancreas and kidney of BALB/c mice due to silver nanoparticles, histological analysis was done through H&E staining system. Finally, AMPK and IRS1 genes expression analysis was carried out via real time PCR. Silver nanoparticles were found to be spherical in shape with an average size of 42nm. They showed an IC50 of 8 µg/ml and 10 µg/ml for α amylase and DPPH assay respectively. Our study suggests that silver nanoparticles specifically 10mg/kg causes significant increase in expression of AMPK & IRS1 which ultimately increase the glucose uptake in cells. Thus, Thymus serpyllum mediated silver nanoparticles possess the potential to cure Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.