This study verified the effect of Syzygium cumini bark extract on the pancreas of normal and diabetic rats. The animals were allocated into four groups, control (C), treated control (TC), diabetic control (DC) and treated diabetic (TD). An aqueous extract from Syzygium cumini bark, was given by gavage in a daily dose of 1g kg-1 of body weight. After a thirty day period, the animals were euthanized and the pancreas taken to imunno-histochemical analysis. A significant decrease in the number and size of islets, citoarchitectural alterations, as well as a severe decrease in the number of positive cells in diabetic animals (p<0.0001) was observed. However, was noticed a no significant difference neither between DC and DT nor C and CT groups. These results indicate that the Syzygium cumini bark extract does not affect significantly the number, size and citoarchitecture of islets, and, it also does not lead to an increase in beta cell number in animals treated with the plant extract.
Syzygium cumini; diabetes; histology; imunnohistochemistry
