Peripheral neuropathies are a major cause of morbidity in patients with diabetes mellitus. Up to now, drugs for improving the impaired nerve functions has been lacking for diabetic neuropathy. The antioxidant and neuroprotective effects of luteolin make it an attractive candidate for diabetic neuropathy. The present study was designed to investigate the putative beneficial effect of luteolin on diabetic neuropathy. Diabetic rats were intraperitoneally treated with daily luteolin (50 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg) or vehicle for 3 weeks from the 28(th) day after streptozotocin injection. Behavioral, electrophysiological and biochemical studies were performed to evaluate the effect of luteolin on the impaired nerve functions in diabetic neuropathy. It was found that luteolin dose dependently alleviated abnormal sensation, improved nerve conduction velocities and nerve blood flow in diabetic rats. Biochanical analysis showed that luteolin significantly lowered the reactive oxygen species production and malondialdehyde level, as well as increased antioxidants activities in a dose dependent manner. In addition, luteolin significantly up-regulated the protein levels of nuclear factor-E2-related factor-2 (Nrf2) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in diabetic nerves. Taken together, luteolin is capable of improving diabetes-induced deficit in motor and sensory functions, which could be attributable, at least in part, to its Nrf2-dependent antioxidant capacity. The findings in the present study highlight the therapeutic value of luteolin for diabetic neuropathy.
Keywords: Luteolin; Nrf2; antioxidant; diabetic neuropathy; neuroprotection.