Fermented Musa paradisica fruit pulp extract attenuates dyslipidemia, and pancreatic, jejunal and neuronal dysfunctions in streptozotocin-induced diabetes in rats

Abstract

Persistent hyperglycemia is the hallmark of diabetes mellitus, and it involves complex metabolic and neuroenteric disturbances that challenge single-target therapies. Fermentation of Musa paradisiaca (plantain) fruit pulp has previously been reported as a means of enhancing its bioactivity, which may exert multifaceted nutraceutical benefits, including metabolic regulation. We tested the hypothesis that fermented M. paradisiaca fruit pulp methanolic extract (f-PUME) normalises body weight and fasting glycaemia, attenuates dyslipidaemia, preserves pancreatic β-cell mass and function via antioxidant and anti-inflammatory actions, and maintains the integrity of hypothalamic and jejunal morphology. Thirty adult male Sprague–Dawley rats were randomised into five groups: control, STZ-only, STZ + glibenclamide (5 mg/kg), STZ + unfermented extract (100 mg/kg), and STZ + fermented extract (100 mg/kg). Hyperglycemia was induced with a single i.p. STZ injection, followed by 42 days of daily oral treatment. Body weight, glucose regulatory, coronary, and atherogenic indices, oxidative stress biomarkers, pancreatic proinflammatory cytokines, brain, jejunal, and pancreatic organosomatic indices, and their histomorphometry were assessed. By Day 14, f-PUME reversed STZ-induced weight loss and fasting hyperglycaemia. f-PUME modestly lowered total cholesterol and triglycerides while preserving HDL-c, normalising Castelli and atherogenic indices. In the pancreas, f-PUME restored organ weight, boosted insulin secretion, reactivated antioxidant enzyme activities, and suppressed MDA and proinflammatory cytokine levels, thereby preserving islet architecture and β-cell granule density. f-PUME also reversed hypothalamic- and jejunalvacuolation and pyknotic nuclei and repaired jejunal crypt morphology. f-PUME exhibits a marked antihyperglycemic effect via antioxidant, glucose and lipid metabolic normalisation, organoprotection, and entero-neuronal morphological and functional restoration.