Engineered Silybin Nanoparticles Educe Efficient Control in Experimental Diabetes

Abstract

Silybin, is one imminent therapeutic for drug induced hepatotoxicity, human prostrate adenocarcinoma and other degenerative organ diseases. Recent evidences suggest that silybin influences gluconeogenesis pathways favorably and is beneficial in the treatment of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The compound however is constrained due to solubility (0.4 mg/mL) and bioavailabilty limitations. Appropriate nanoparticle design for silybin in biocompatible polymers was thus proposed as a probable solution for therapeutic inadequacy. New surface engineered biopolymeric nanoparticles with high silybin encapsulation efficiency of 92.11% and zeta potential of +21 mV were designed. Both the pure compound and the nanoparticles were evaluated in vivo for the first time in experimental diabetic conditions. Animal health recovered substantially and the blood glucose levels came down to near normal values after 28 days treatment schedule with the engineered nanoparticles. Restoration from hyperglycemic damage condition was traced to serum insulin regeneration. Serum insulin recovered from the streptozotocin induced pancreatic damage levels of 0.17±0.01 µg/lit to 0.57±0.11 µg/lit after nanoparticle treatment. Significant reduction in glycated hemoglobin level, and restoration of liver glycogen content were some of the other interesting observations. Engineered silybin nanoparticle assisted recovery in diabetic conditions was reasoned due to improved silybin dissolution, passive transport in nanoscale, and restoration of antioxidant status.

The Therapeutic Potential of Milk Thistle in Diabetes

“…Also, the levels of HbA1c, insulin, cholesterol, triglyceride, liver enzyme levels, and antioxidant status parameters (including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, and glutathion (GSH)) are close to that of healthy controls when compared with animals treated with conventional silibin. In another study, silimarin succeeded in restoring SOD, glutathione peroxidase (GSHPx), and catalase (CAT) values to approximately those of the control group, providing another strong indication that it is a free-radical scavenger, able to protect the pancreas from further alloxan-induced damage [19,20].…”

Silybum marianum (milk thistle) and its main constituent, silymarin, as a potential therapeutic plant in metabolic syndrome: A review

“…It was found that engineered nanoparticles of silybin can normalize blood glucose and serum insulin levels and can significantly reduce glycosylate hemoglobin (HbA 1c ) level and restore liver glycogen content and exhibit normoglycemic condition during 28‐day treatment in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. The suggested mechanism of antidiabetic effect of silybin could be an antioxidant defense mechanism that can help in regeneration of beta cells (Das et al, ). Another study evaluating the therapeutic effect of different forms of silybin in hypertriglyceridemic rats showed micronized form possessed the most significant reductions in glucose and insulin levels.…”

State-of-Art Functional Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering

“…(B) Computer-rendered images of composite scaffold showing (a) a porous structure of the scaffold in 3D and (b) a zoomed section to better display the pore network (1 mm across) (adopted from Hatton et al, 2019). (C) Histopathology examination of pancreas sections-(a) normal pancreas, (b) diabetic pancreas, (c) silybin (Sb)-treated pancreas, (d) Sb nanoparticle-treated pancreas (adopted from Das et al, 2014).…”