Markers of blood coagulation, lipid profile, renal function test and serum electrolytes in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

The presence of dyslipidemia, atherogenesis and thrombophilia in diabetic patients is well known. However, the presentation of these features in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats is a controversial issue; particularly the effect of STZ on blood coagulation tendency is not clearly known. This study reports the effect of STZ (45 mg/kg, ip) on blood glucose, renal function, lipids profile, serum electrolytes, albumin and blood clotting tendency in rats. Adult male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into two groups of five animals each. The random blood glucose (32.32 ± 1.64 versus 6.80 ± 0.19 mmol/l) was significantly higher in the diabetic rats as compared to control animals. There was no significant difference in prothrombin time (PT) of control (15.02 ± 0.07 s) and diabetic (15.34 ± 0.34 s) rats whereas activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) was significantly lower in diabetic rats (16.62 ± 0.94 s) than control animals (20.40 ± 0.40 s). Administration of STZ significantly increased serum urea and creatinine levels indicating impaired renal function in diabetic rats. There was no significant difference in serum lipids, albumin and electrolytes between the two groups except that a significant decrease in serum sodium was observed in diabetic rats. In conclusion, the findings of this study show that even a short-term (1 week) hyperglycemia induced by STZ significantly impairs the renal function and blood clotting tendency in rats. This animal model may have potential relevance for anticoagulation therapy testing.