[INFLUENCE OF MEDICINAL PLANT EXTRACTS ON THE FUNCTIONS AND ANTIOXIDANT PROTECTION OF ERYTHROCYTES IN RATS WITH EXPERIMENTAL DIABETES MELLITUS].

Experiments on rats with diabetes mellitus model induced by streptosotocin and high (30%) fat diet showed that the daily treatment with aqueous extracts of great nettle leaves (100 mg/kg) and common burdock roots (25 mg/kg) for a period of 10 days led to a decrease in the glycemic index and triglyceride level and produced protective action on erythrocytes both in animals kept on a fat-rich diet and on the background of a low-caloric ration. Both medicinal plant extracts were comparable with reference drug metformin in reducing the concentration of glycosylated hemoglobin (by 12-31%) and ectoglobular hemoglobin (1.7-1.8 times, p <0.05), decreasing the content of malonic dialdehyde in erythrocytes (1.3 times, p < 0.05), and increasing erythrocyte deformability (1.3-1.4 times, p < 0.05) and activity of their antioxidant enzymes glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, glutathione-S-transferase, catalase, and supe- roxide dismutase (1.2-2.6 times, p < 0.05). A diet with usual (8%) fat content improved the metabolic indices to a lower degree (on the average by 13-21%, p < 0.05) than did the proposed phytotherapy.