Fondation de Recherche Cancer et Sang (Luxembourg) Table of content

The diabetic effects of streptozotocin (STZ) were investigated in spleen. In the study, 38 male adultWistar Albino rats with weights 200 ± 20 g were used by separating them into four groups: Control,Vitamin C, Diabetes, Diabetes + Vitamin C. Vitamin C is an important antioxidant. Streptozotocinin sterile physiological saline was injected into animals intravenously. Body weights and fastingblood glucose were measured at the beginning and end of the experiment. The animals were thendecapitated under ether anaesthesia. Spleen were dissected free and fixed in 2,5 % phosphate-buffered glutaraldehyde, pH 7,2, and kept cold for 2 h. After rinsing several times in cold phosphatebuffer, the tissues were postfixed in 1 % osmium tetroxide solution for 2 h. Fixed tissues weredehydrated in a series of graded ethanol, placed into propylene oxide and embedded in araldite.Ultrathin sections were stained with uranyl acetate and lead citrate and examined with transmissionelectron microscopy. There were irregularly shaped atypical nuclei in diabetic spleen lymphocytes.Swelling and chromatin clumping were observed in the nucleus. Cell membrane blisters and nuclearmembrane blebs were noted. Plasma cells were situated among the splenic lymphocytes. There weredilated cisterns of the rough endoplasmic channels, which contain flocculent material within theplasma cells. These findings suggest that diabetes causes reversible cell damage in both the whiteand red pulps. The relation between the diabetes-related cell destruction and vitamin C wasevaluated in the ultrastructural level.