Journal of Diabetes Research and Endocrinology Open Access

VACCINIUM ARCTOSTAPHYLOS L. FRUIT EXTRACT IMPROVES THE MOLECULAR AND HISTOPATHOLOGIC CHANGES IN EXPERIMENTAL DIABETES

26^th International Conference on Clinical Diabetes

December 14-15, 2017 Rome, Italy

Shideh Montasser Kouhsari and Negar Saliani

University of Tehran, Iran

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Diabetes Res Endocrinol

Abstract:

Recently the use of herbal medicine has certainly been of very high interest. Vaccinium arctostaphylos L. fruits which are traditionally used in Iran are highly rich in anthocyanins and widely used for treating diabetes mellitus (DM). The aim of this study was to evaluate the beneficiary effects of Vaccinium arctostaphylos extract (VAE) on pancreas and skeletal muscle of diabetic rats. Diabetes induced male Wistar rats were treated for four weeks with ethanolic extract of Vaccinium arctostaphylos fruit (200 mg/kg/day). At the end of treatment period, animals were sacrificed, and tissues were pooled. Pancreatic tissues stained with hematoxylin and eosin exhibited slight improvement in pancreatic architecture and also increased number of cells in the Langerhans islets of the diabetic rats + VAE compered to diabetic control rats. Moreover, the expression of INS, BCL2 and BAX genes in pancreatic tissues and insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1) and GLUT4 genes in skeletal muscle were determined using real time PCR. There was a significant increase in the expression of INS gene and survival gene Bcl2 in pancreatic tissue of diabetic rats + VAE compered to diabetic control rats while there was a significant down regulation in the expression of apoptotic gene BAX in the same condition. Furthermore, microRNAs are key players of metabolic pathways and any modulations in their expression can lead to metabolic disorders like DM. Several lines of evidence demonstrated that miR-30d involves in insulin transcription and its secretion. Real time PCR results indicated that miR30d upregulated after treatment with VAE. Additionally, the expression of IRS-1 and GLUT4 genes increased in diabetic rats + VAE to favour the antihyperglycemic potential of Vaccinium arctostaphylos. Collectively, our data suggests that Vaccinium arctostaphylos fruit extract can have therapeutic potential in treatment of diabetes.