ABSTRACT
Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is a major health problem that is characterized by high blood glucose levels. Type 1 diabetes mellitus is an autoimmune disease, and leads to inflammation and destruction of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreatic islets. Fish oil [commonly known as Omega-3] is one of the most important polyunsaturated fatty acids that has an anti-inflammatory and an antioxidant activity. Therefore, there is growing evidence that dietary intake of Omega-3 could be useful in diabetes prevention
Aim: The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of Omega-3 administration on the pancreatic architecture of streptozotocin-induced diabetes in male albino rats
Materials and methods: Thirty adult male albino rats were used in the study. They were divided into three groups. In group I, 10 animals served as a control group. The rest of the animals were administered an intraperitoneal injection of a single dose of 60 mg/kg of streptozotocin; then, rats that were found to be diabetic were divided into two groups: group II included 10 animals that served as a model of induced diabetes and were left without treatment for 4 weeks and group III included 10 animals that received a daily oral dose of Omega-3 for 4 weeks after the onset of diabetes. Finally, pancreatic specimens were collected and processed for immunohistochemical staining and for light microscopic and transmission electron microscopic examination
Results: Induction of diabetes led to marked degeneration of pancreatic islets with distortion of exocrine acini. Administration of Omega-3 led to normal appearance of the islet and acinar cells, with the formation of new islet cell clusters in close contact to pancreatic ducts. The duct showed a positive reaction against anti-insulin antibodies
Conclusion: This study suggested that the administration of Omega-3 in a diabetic state promotes beta-cell regeneration from potent islet progenitor cells present in the ductal cells and these lead to restoration of the functional activities of the pancreas