the effects of basil on changes in blood glucose and testosterone levels in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

abstract          background and objective: according to iranian, asian, indian, and chinese traditional medicine, basil is used in the treatment of different diseases. in this study, the effect of basil on lowering the blood glucose was examined in healthy and diabetic rats.         methods: sixty wistar rats were divided into a control group(n=10), a basil receiving group (n=20) and a diabetic group (n=30)(60 mg/kg streptozotocin- intraperitoneal injection) and the rats in each group received basil orally in pairs. forty-eight hours after injection of streptozotocin, 2 and 4 mg/kg doses of basil were prescribed orally for the diabetic group daily for 45 days. in end of study for record serum testosterone ,5 cc blood was sampled from each rat.        results: there was a significant correlation between the oral administration of 2 and 4 mg/kg doses of basil and reduced blood glucose level and testosterone changes in the diabetic groups (p<0.05). twenty-four hours after the first administration, basil caused a significant decrease in the blood glucose level and this  effects continued for 24, 48, and 72 hours, respectively. in contrast, basil had no hypoglycemic effect in the healthy rats.          conclusion: the results indicated that 2 and 4 mg/kg doses of basil had significant hypoglycemic effects on the diabetic groups and compensated for the testosterone level in diabetic rats, but had no effect on the healthy rats.         keywords: streptozotocin, testosterone, ocimum basiilicum, diabetes mellitus.