Effect of Qiangyi Jiangtang capsules on glucose metabolism and the amount of water drinking and food intake in rats with diabetes mellitus

BACKGROUND:At present,new drug and dosage form to treat diabetes mellitus has emerged continually,but it has toxic reaction,side effects,and contraindication or unindication.Especially that it cannot prevent the natural proceeding of diabetes mellitus from aggravation.Based on theory and experience of traditional Chinese medicine,and combining modern methods of pharmacology and pharmaceutical chemistry,it has become one of the hotspots in researches on diabetes mellitus at present to investigate and empolder preparation of pure traditional Chinese medicine that has good effect and little toxicity.OBJECTIVE:To investigate the pharmacological effect of Chinese compound of Qiangyi Jiangtang capsules on diabetic rat models induced by high-fat forage and streptozotocin.DESIGN:A comparative observation of animal trial.SETTING:Staff Room of Pharmacology,Yunnan College of Traditional Chinese Medicine.MATERIALS:Totally 100 2-month-old Wistar rats of common degree,weighing(180±25)g were used.There were 50 males and 50 females,14 rats were randomly selected as the blank control group,and the other 84 rats were used in model establishment.The treatments of the animals in the experiment were accorded with the ethical standard.METHODS:The experiment was carried out in the Staff Room of Pharmacology,Yunnan College of Traditional Chinese Medicine from March to April in 2004.Diabetic models were induced by high-fat forage and streptozotocin.The successful model rats (n=54) were randomly divided into the model group,positive control group and the high,middle and low dosage of Qiangyi Jiangtang capsules groups.The dosages in the low,middle and high dosages treated groups were 0.4,1.2 and 2.0 g/kg respectively. The rats in the blank control group and model group were given isovolume of saline,and those in the positive control group were administrated intragastrically with metformin (0.5 g/kg).After administration,blood glucose,glycosylated hemoglobin and serum fructosamine were determined at 1 month,and the amounts of water drinking and food intake were determined at the 2nd and 4th weeks.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Results of blood glucose,glycosylated hemoglobin and serum fructosamine;amounts of water drinking and food intake.RESULTS:Totally 100 Wistar rats were used,32 of them were excluded due to failure in the model establishment,and the other 68 were involved in the final analysis of results.The blood glucose,glycosylated hemoglobin and serum fructosamine in the high,middle and low dosages of Qiangyi Jiangtang capsules groups were all significantly lower than those in the model group(P＜0.01).The amounts of water drinking at the 2nd and 4th weeks in the high,middle and low dosages of Qiangyi Jiangtang capsules groups were significantly lower than those in the model group (P＜0.01),and the amounts of food intake were also lower than those in the model group (P＜0.05 or 0.01).CONCLUSION: Qiangyi Jiangtang capsules could remarkably decrease the levels of blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin and serum fructosamine,and the amounts of water drinking and food intake of rat models of diabetes mellitus.It was proved that traditional Chinese medicine for diabetes mellitus is worthy of further development and research.