RESUMEN
The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of the ascorbic acid supplementation on the cellular proliferation on the ileum mucosa of diabetic rats. Fifteen 90-days rats were divided in the groups: control, diabetic and diabetic supplemented with ascorbic acid (DA). Two hours prior the sacrifice, they were injected with Vincristin. Semi-seriate histological cuts stained with HE were accomplished. About 2500 crypt cells from the intestinal mucosa were counted in order to obtain the metaphasic indexes. The height and depth of 30 villi and 30 crypts were measured for each animal, respectively. The metaphasic indexes showed no significant changes when we compared the three groups: 20.2 +/- 0.7 (control), 18 +/- 1.9 (diabetic) and 17 +/- 1.4 (DA) (p > 0.05). The values obtained from the crypts measurement were 221.2 +/- 8.5 (control), 225.3 +/- 9.5 (diabetic) and 222 +/- 34 (DA). The villi of the control, diabetic and DA animals presented the following results: 301.7 +/- 25.33, 304.8 +/- 25.63 and 322.1 +/- 45.77 respectively. The morphometric data were not different statistically (p > 0.05). Summing up, the present work showed that there was no alteration in the cellular proliferation of the ileum of diabetic-induced rats supplemented with ascorbic acid.