Evaluation of anti-diabetic effects of aqueous extract of Teucrium polium in Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats via plasma insulin measurement

Background and Objective: Teucrium polium L. (TP), also known as Kalpooreh, has been long suggested in Iranian folk medicine for its antidiabetic activities. Some other biological and therapeutic effects have been reported for TP such as anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-nociceptive, anti-pyretic, anti-microbial, hypolipidemic, antispasmoic and etc. Its hypoglycemic effects and insulin therapy function was always a paradox in literature. The aim of this study was to determine not only its anti-diabetic effects but also its hyper insulin activity.Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, diabetes was induced in male Wistar rats (8 weeks old) via intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (65 mg/kg). After diabetes confirmation and diabetic complication establishment in the animals (4 weeks), 24 diabetic rats randomly divided into 3 equal groups (a model and two experimental) and treated as follow: diabetic model group (DM) received only vehicle (Saline) during the study period whereas experimental groups treated with Teucrium polium aqueous extracts (TP) at the doses of 100mg/kg and 200mg/kg (TP100 and TP200 respectively). For further investigation 100mg/kg of TP was administered to a normal group. Also a normal age matched control group (n=8) was allocated as and only received saline during the study period. All the treatments were done via oral administration once per day for 8 consecutive weeks. Finally, the animals were sacrificed and their plasma concentrations of insulin were assessed using Rat Insulin(INS)ELISA Kit (HANGZHOU EASTBIOPHARM CO., LTD). One drop blood sample Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc tests in SPSS software (Version 22). Findings: The aqueous extract significantly reduced plasma glucose levels in both groups DTP100 (p<0.001) and DTP200 (p<0.05). The two groups of DTP100 and DTP200 showed a significant difference too. In this study, insulin, which has showed a significant difference between the model and control group, did not show a significant difference between the intervention groups and the model group.Conclusion: Teucrium polium is a good anti-diabetic plant. but no effects on insulin secretion was observed in our study.

کلیدواژه ها:

Diabetes ، Insulin ، Fast blood sugar ، Teucrium polium