Immunohistochemical Study of Superoxide Dismutase in the Liver of Alloxan Diabetes Mellitus Macaques

Abstract

Alloxan exhibit the most potent diabetogenity and are used for induction of experimental diabetes mellitus. Many studies reported an understanding of mechanism of diabetogenic agent causes diabetes. However, only a few report on superoxide dismutase in the tissues of experimental alloxan diabetic condition. One of the intracellular antioxidant - copper, zinc-superoxide dismutase (Cu,Zn-SOD) was immunohistochemically studied in the liver of alloxan diabetes mellitus Macaques (Macaca fascicularis). A total of 12 male Macaca fascicularis were used for this experiment. They were divided into three groups, control group, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) group, and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) group. The hyperglycemic condition was obtained by alloxan induction to alter the P-cells of pancreas. The reaction products of Cu,Zn-SOD were qualitatively observed in the cytoplasm of hepatocytes, as well as quantitatively observation in the nucleus of the cells. Both qualitatively and quantitatively observation showed that the enzyme decreased in the liver of both diabetes groups when compared to the control group. The decrease of the SOD was more clearly shown in the IDDM group than in the NIDDM group. The decrease of the enzyme was also showed by the decrease in percentage of positive-cells, and increase in percentage of negative-cells to the total hepatocytes in the liver tissues of both diabetes mellitus groups as compared to the control group. These results suggested that diabetes mellitus condition may increase oxygen-free radical and therefore it decreased the content of Cu,Zn-SOD in the liver tissues.