Acute and Subchronic Treatment of Roasted and Unroasted Argan Oil on Postprandial Glycemia and Its Effect on Glucose Uptake by Isolated Rat Hemidiaphragm

Abstract

Background: In Morocco, Argan oil is one of the products used for antidiabetic purposes. Objective. This work aims to study the acute and subchronic effect treatment of the roasted (Roil) and unroasted (UnRoil) Argan oils on oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and body weight in normal and diabetic rats, evaluate the effect of these oils on glucose absorption by the diaphragm, and determine total polyphenol, flavonoids, tannins, chlorophyll and carotenoids amounts. Methods: The investigation of the anti-hyperglycemic effect of Roil and UnRoil was performed on normal and alloxane-diabetic rats, by treating orally the animals with 2 mLKg-1/day of oils for 1 day (Acute treatment) and 4 weeks (Subchronic treatment). Then, OGTT was carried out at the end of each treatment and the body weight was checked for each week. Besides, these oils (1 gL-1) were tested on glucose absorption by the diaphragm isolated from Wistar rats, in vitro. Results: This work shows that Roil and UnRoil decrease significantly the postprandial glycemia level in acute and subchronic treatments in normal and diabetic rats. Besides, the intake of these oils in diabetic rats attenuates significantly the postprandial glycemia, compared to the acute-treated group. In vitro glucose uptake by the hemidiaphragm study shows that Argan oils promote glucose consumption by the muscles. Conclusion: Argan oils showed a very important anti-hyperglycemic effect, and this effect could be explained by promoting peripheral glucose uptake. UnRoil shows a better effect than Roil towards glucose consumption which means that the roasting process influences the phytoconstituent responsible for this activity.