S698 Document heading doi: 10.1016/S2222-1808(14)60710-6 襃 2014 by the Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease. All rights reserved. Histomorphological and morphometric studies of the pancreatic islet cells of diabetic rats treated with aqueous extracts of Momordica charantia (karela) fruits Mohammad Aftab Hossain 1 , Mahbub Mostofa 2 , Mohammad Abdul Awal 2 , Emdadul Haque Chowdhury 3 , Mahmudul Hasan Sikder 2* 1 Department of Livestock Services, Netrakona, Bangladesh 2 Department of Pharmacology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202, Bangladesh 3 Department of Pathology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202, Bangladesh Asian Pac J Trop Dis 2014; 4(Suppl 2): S698-S704 Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apjtd *Corresponding author: Dr. Mahmudul Hasan Sikder, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202, Bangladesh. Tel: (+88) 091-67401-6 ext. 2330, (+88) 01766677178 Fax: (+88) 091 67431 E-mail: drmsikder@bau.edu.bd, sikder224@yahoo.com Foundation Project: Supported by Ministry of Science, I nformation and Communication Technology (MoSICT), Bangladesh (Grant No. MoSICT/2010/14/BAU). 1. Introduction Diabetes mellitus is a complex disorder that characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from malfunction in insulin secretion and/or insulin action both causing by impaired metabolism of glucose, lipids and protein. Diabetes mellitus is considered as one of the five leading causes of death in the world [1] . Being a major degenerative disease, diabetes is found in all parts of the world and it is becoming the third most lethal disease of mankind and increasing rapidly [2] . The global estimated that the prevalence of diabetes from 171 million in 2000 to 366 million in 2030 [3] . Nowadays, it has been recognized that diabetes mellitus is a major chronic public health problem throughout the world. In the absence of effective and affordable interventions for both types of diabetes, the frequency of the disease will escalate worldwide, with a major impact on the population of developing countries [4] . A recent study has estimated that up to 30% of patients with diabetes mellitus use complementary and alternative medicine [5] . The popularity of complementary medicine to treat diabetes is escalating. Momordica charantia Linn. (M. charantia), commonly ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Received 24 Jul 2014 Received in revised form 20 Aug 2014 Accepted 7 Sep 2014 Available online 19 Sep 2014 Keywords: Diabetes mellitus Momordica charantia (karela) Streptozotocin Histopathological change Pancreatic islets Objective: To investigate the effect of aqueous extract of Momordica charantia (karela) (M. charantia) fruits on blood glucose level, pancreatic weight changes and histopathology of pancreatic changes in the streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic rats. Methods: Thirty-six albino rats were used in the experiment; diabetes mellitus was induced in 30 adult albino rats, using intraperitoneal injection of 55 mg/kg STZ. Six non diabetic rats remained as control (T1). The diabetic rats were randomly assigned into five equal groups: diabetic control (T2) without any treatment, groups T3, T4, T5 and T6 were treated with aqueous extract of karela fruits daily at a doses of 250, 500 and 750 mg/kg and glibenclamide (5 mg/kg) up to 90 d, respectively. At Day 90, all rats were sacrificed, the pancreases of the rats were excised and processed. Results: The results of this study indicate that aqueous extract of M. charantia fruits was able to reduce blood glucose level significantly compared with the diabetic control group (P<0.01). Histopathologically, STZ resulted severe necrotic changes in pancreatic islets. Tissues sections of pancreas in the treated groups showed regeneration of β cells and increased size of pancreatic islets. Conclusions: The present study suggests that oral feeding of M. charantia fruit juice has a significant anti-hyperglycemic effect and may have a role in the regeneration of the β cells in STZ diabetic rats. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect