Diabetes occurs due to lipid-induced hepatic insulin resistance and affects over 34 million Americans yearly, rapidly becoming a leading cause of death. However, through nutritional intake modifications, healthy blood sugar levels may be maintained. My research investigates if indole 3-carbinol (I3C), an antioxidant and naturally occurring compound in cruciferous vegetables, reduces the accumulation of lipids in a model organism (Caenorhabditis elegans strain LIU1). C.elegans strain LIU1 have a DeHydrogenases, Short chain (DHS-3) protein attached to the Green Flourescent Protein (GFP). When lipids accumulate, the DHS-3 protein aggregates, causing the GFP to show flourescenence. Per trial, there is a control group, while experimental groups are administered a dosage of I3C ranging from 2.0·10 –2 mg/ml to 8.1·10 –2mg/ml. 24 hours after initial exposure, images of the C.elegans were taken on a fluorescence microscope.

Results were analyzed by testing for significance after the 24 hour exposure period using the FIJI analysis software and a one-way ANOVA test (p < 0.01). My control, low, medium, and high groups were significantly different from each other at the 24 hour time point with a decrease in fluorescence respectively. These results show that all treatments of the I3C compound caused a significant decrease in the fluorescence of the C.elegans compared to the control, indicating that I3C had lipid accumulation reducing effects.

Future studies may include testing for an interaction between lipid accumulation and I3C in model organisms more similar to humans which could potentially show a similar effect for humans.