Effects of streptozocin-induced diabetes on the histomorphometry of the small and large intestines of male Sprague Dawley rats

Gastrointestinal tract (GIT) disorders affecting intestinal tissues are common among diabetes mellitus (DM) patients. GIT side effects of antidiabetic medication are a reason for an increase in use of antidiabetic herbal medicine, prompting research that uses 50mg/kg of streptozocin (STZ) to induce DM in animal experiments prior to testing safety and efficacy of the herbs over 21 days in most experiments. As DM is a progressive disease, it is not clear whether 21 days of DM is enough to induce intes tinal tissue changes. We investigated effects of 50mg/kg STZ induced DM in intestines of male Sprague Dawley rats observed over 21 days. Intestinal tissues of 16 (control, n=8, STZ diabetic=8) rats stained with Masson’s Trichrome, hematoxylin and eosin were used. Villi height, width, number of goblet cells (GC), mucosa, submucosal col lagen fibre (SCF) and muscularis externa (ME) were measured using ImageJ software in photomicrographs taken from slides with a microscope camera. Means were ana lysed using SPSS software. In DM animals, there was a significant increase in width of ileal villi (p < 0.001), reduction in number of GC in jejunum (p = 0.033) and ileum (p <0.001). SCF thickness increased in duodenum (p < 0.001), jejunum (p = 0.003), ileum (p = 0.005), and colon (p = 0.004). ME only increased in ileum (p = 0.004). 50mg/kg STZ DM induces significant changes across the intestines over 21 days, sug gesting that this duration is effective for experimental modelling for future DM studies on the intestines.