Antidiabetic and histomorphological evaluation of composite teas on pancreas following Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced hyperglycemia in adult female Wistar rats

A cure to type 1 diabetes without undesirable side effects still remains a formidable challenge in drug research and development. Many traditional plants and herbal medicines have been discovered to have favourable and safe anti-diabetic activity in comparison to synthetic drugs. This study was aimed at investigating the protective effect of composite teas on pancreas following streptozotocin-induced hyperglycaemia in female Wistar rats. Thirty normoglycemic adult female Wistar rats of an average body weight of 200 g were divided randomly into six groups and the composite teas administered after induction of hyperglycaemia. Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS) and body weights were taken. At the end of the experiment, the rats were fasted overnight and sacrificed and the pancreas was excised. Control group showed decrease in blood glucose levels with significant increase in body weight while the treated groups showed improvement in the blood glucose level with significant increase in their body weights but there were alterations in blood glucose levels of the untreated group with significant decrease in their weights. The control group showed normal pancreatic cells histology; the architecture of pancreatic cells in streptozotocin (STZ) group were distorted but the groups treated with composite teas showed improvement in their micro-architecture. In conclusion, composite teas have protective role on blood sugar level and also restores distortions of pancreatic beta-cells in streptozotocin-induced hyperglycaemia.

Key Words: diabetes mellitus, streptozotocin, composite teas, pancreas