Jahanshahi M, Golalipour M J, Afshar M
Department of Anatomy, Gorgan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran.
Folia Morphol (Warsz). 2009 May;68(2):93-7.
Diabetes mellitus is associated with cerebral alterations in both human and animal models of the disease. These alterations include abnormal expression of hypothalamic neuropeptides and hippocampal astrogliosis. Urtica dioica (Nettle) is among several species listed for their use against diabetes in folk medicine. The aim of this study was the evaluation of the astrocyte number in the dentate gyrus of diabetic rats after treatment with nettle. A total of 21 male albino Wistar rats were used in the present study. The animals were divided into three groups: control, nettle-untreated diabetic, and nettle treated diabetic. Hyperglycaemia was induced by streptozotocin (80 mg/kg) in the animals of the diabetic and treatment groups. One week after injection of the streptozotocin, the animals in the treatment group received a hydroalcoholic extract of Urtica dioica (100 mg/kg/day) for 4 weeks intraperitoneally. After a 5-week survival period, all the rats were sacrificed and coronal sections were taken from the dorsal hippocampal formation of the right cerebral hemispheres. The area densities of the astrocytes were measured and compared between the three groups (p < 0.05). The number of astrocytes increased in the diabetic rats (24.06 +/- 9.57) compared with the controls (17.52 +/- 6.66). The densities in the treated rats (19.50 +/- 6.16) were lower than in the diabetic rats. Furthermore, the control and treated rats showed similar densities. We concluded that U. dioica extract helped compensate for astrocytes in the treatment rats dentate gyrus in comparison with diabetic rats.
糖尿病在人类和动物模型中均与大脑改变有关。这些改变包括下丘脑神经肽的异常表达和海马星形胶质细胞增生。荨麻是民间医学中被列为可用于治疗糖尿病的几种植物之一。本研究的目的是评估用荨麻治疗后糖尿病大鼠齿状回中星形胶质细胞的数量。本研究共使用了21只雄性白化Wistar大鼠。动物被分为三组：对照组、未用荨麻治疗的糖尿病组和用荨麻治疗的糖尿病组。糖尿病组和治疗组的动物通过链脲佐菌素（80 mg/kg）诱导高血糖。注射链脲佐菌素一周后，治疗组的动物腹腔内接受荨麻水醇提取物（100 mg/kg/天），持续4周。经过5周的生存期后，所有大鼠均被处死，并从右侧大脑半球的背侧海马结构获取冠状切片。测量并比较三组星形胶质细胞的面积密度（p < 0.05）。与对照组（17.52 +/- 6.66）相比，糖尿病大鼠（24.06 +/- 9.57）的星形胶质细胞数量增加。治疗组大鼠（19.50 +/- 6.16）的密度低于糖尿病大鼠。此外，对照组和治疗组大鼠的密度相似。我们得出结论，与糖尿病大鼠相比，荨麻提取物有助于补偿治疗组大鼠齿状回中的星形胶质细胞。
