CHANGES IN THE PANCREAS IN STREPTOZOTOCIN-INDUCED DIABETIC RAT AND THE POSSIBLE PROTECTIVE ROLE OF SELENIUM: A HISTOLOGICAL AND IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STUDY
Soheir H. Ahmed, Fayza Abdel Raouf, Sherif F. Arsanyous, Walaa M. Sayed and Suzan M. Soliman*
Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University and MSA University*
Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a non-autoimmune, metabolic disease in which the body fails to produce enough insulin, characterized by abnormal glucose homeostasis. Aim of the work: is to study the histopathological changes in the pancreas of the diabetic rats and to study the possible protective role of selenium. Material and Methods: Sixty male adult albino rats were divided into 5 groups (12 rats each): Group I (Normal control), Group II (Sham control, Group III (STZ - induced diabetic group), Group IV (Curative-diabetic receiving selenium concomitantly), Group V (Prophylactic-diabetic receiving selenium 2 weeks before STZ injection). Each of the previous groups was subdivided into two subgroups; group a (sacrificed after 2 weeks) and group b (sacrificed after 8 weeks). The animals were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and the pancreas was removed and processed for histological and immunohistochemical examination. Results: It was found that diabetes caused marked degenerative changes of the pancreatic islets which progressively increased with the disease, but became moderately improved with the concomitant administration of selenium (curative group), and markedly improved when selenium was given before induction of diabetes (prophylactic group). Conclusion: Selenium has a multitude of positive effects on β-cell replication, contributing to overall improvement in islet function and lowering blood glucose level, especially if administered before induction of diabetes.
June 2015