The Short-term Effects of Insulin, Metformin and Insulin-Metformin Combination on the Liver Morphology in High Fat Diet / Streptozotocin Induced Diabetic Albino Rats.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the histological effects of insulin, metformin and insulin-metformin combination on liver morphology in high fat diet (HFD) / Streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic albino rats.

STUDY DESIGN

Experimental and comparative study.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY

Institute of Basic Medical Sciences (IBMS), Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), Ojha Campus, Karachi, from January to August 2012.

METHODOLOGY

The study was conducted on 50 HFD/STZ induced diabetic albino wistar rats which were randomized into 5 groups. One of the groups was treated with insulin, one with metformin, and the other group with insulin-metformin combination for 4 weeks. One of the groups was left untreated. One group was control group. After the treatment period, the rats were sacrificed and livers were isolated, weighed, processed and stained to analyse the difference in hepatic morphology in each treated and untreated groups, then the results were compared with control rats.

RESULTS

Statistically significant difference (p < 0.0001) was seen between the groups by using Kruskill Wallis Test. To further investigate the effectiveness of insulin, metformin and insulin-metformin combination, Mann-Whitney U-test was applied. Statistically significant difference was noticed when diabetic rats were given insulin-metformin combination (p < 0.0001).

CONCLUSION

The combination therapy was observed to have better effects on liver morphology than insulin and metformin used separately.