بررسی اثر مصرف خوراکی گیاه تاج خروس در کاهش قند و چربی خون در موش صحرایی ماده

  Objective: In this study, the effect of oral administration of Amaranthus caudatus L. (AC) on serum glucose, lipids, and morphology of Langerhans islets in diabetic rats was investigated.   Materials & Methods: Female Wistar rats (n=32) were divided into 4 groups, i.e. control, AC-treated control, diabetic, and AC-treated diabetic groups. The treatment groups received oral administration of plant-mixed pelleted food (6.25%) for 8 weeks. Serum glucose, triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL- and HDL- cholesterol levels were determined before the study, and at 4th and 8th weeks of the study. Morphology of Langerhans islets in 4 groups was evaluated using Gomori staining method.   Results: AC treatment of diabetic rats did have a significant hypoglycemic effect at 4th and 8th weeks compared to the diabetic group (p<0.05-0.01). In addition, serum LDL-cholesterol levels in the treated diabetic group significantly reduced compared to the untreated diabetic group (p<0.05-0.005). On the other hand, treated diabetic group showed no significant difference with the untreated diabetic group with regard to the level of serum triglyceride and total cholesterol. Meanwhile, serum level of HDL-cholesterol significantly increased in treated-diabetic group (p<0.005) in contrast to the diabetic group. Regarding histology of Langerhans islets, diabetic group showed a lower number and granularity of beta cells and AC treatment did not produce any considerable change in this respect.   Conclusion: Oral administration of AC has a significant hypoglycemic effect and leads to appropriate changes in serum lipids except for triglyceride and total cholesterol. .