immunohistochemical study of the pancreatic islet beta cells of diabetic rats treated with oral vanadyl sulphate

introduction: vanadium salts have been suggested as a possible therapeutic agent for the treatment of diabetes. the aim of the present study was to clarify immunohistochemical changes that occur in the pancreatic beta ([pancreatic islet beta]) cells of vanadyl sulphate (vs) treated stz induced diabetic rats. materials and methods: male wistar rats were made diabetic with injecting a single intravenous dose (40 mg/kg) of stz and were divided into two groups. in the first group (dt) vs was administered in the drinking water at a concentration of 1 mg/ml and treatment was maintained until normoglycemia appeared. second group of animals received distilled water for the same period as the dt rats end of the and was considered as control diabetic (dc) group. one group of animals (nc) was injected intravenously with the same amounth of veicle as the diabetic rats and was considered as non-diabetic control. in the end of the experiment all of the animals were killed and horseradish peroxidase procedure performed on pancreatic islet paraffin sections using guinea pig antiserum to insulin as primary antibody. results: vs treatment was accompanied by amelioration of the signs of diabetes in dt rats while dc animals remained diabetic during the period of study. in immunohistochemistry while insulin immunoreactive [pancreatic islet beta] cells accounted for the majority of the islet cells in dt rats, immunostaining of pancreatic islets of dc rats revealed a considerable reduction in the number of insulin immunoreactive [pancreatic islet beta]cells. conclusion: the results of this study indicate that the amelioration of the diabetic state in dt rats was accompanied with well preservation of pancreatic islets and insulin immunoreactivity in [pancreatic islet beta] cells.