Treatment with sodium tungstate delays diabetes onset and lowers hyperglycemia in the NOD mouse

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Sodium tungstate is an effective anti-diabetic agent in several animal models of diabetes mellitus in both short- and long-term treatments. Aims: To further characterize its therapeutic application, we studied whether this compound could act in autoimmune diabetes in the NOD (non-obese diabetic) mouse. Material and methods: Four-week-old female mice were given sodium tungstate for 24 weeks. Blood glucose was measured every 2 days throughout the entire experimental period. At the end of treatment, morphometric analysis of the pancreas was performed. Alternatively, diabetic mice were treated with tungstate and liver enzyme activity was determined. Results: We found that tungstate treatment delayed diabetes onset by 6 weeks. In addition, treated mice exhibited lower hyperglycemia at the onset of the disease and this parameter remained low until the end of treatment. Tungstate treatment had no effect on either the severity of insulitis or on β-cell mass. However, tungstate treatment induced a recovery of liver glucokinase and pyruvate kinase activities in diabetic animals. Conclusions: Administration of sodium tungstate to NOD mice corroborates its anti-diabetic properties, delaying diabetes onset and diminishing its incidence. The results indicate that, in the NOD mouse, as in other animal models, the liver is one of the main targets of tungstate actions (AU)

RESUMEN

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