Effect of aqueous olive leaves extract on the pancreatic islets in rats

Abstract EN

The objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of the aqueous crude extract of Olea europaeaon serum glucose level and histopathological changes in islets of Langerhans in an induced-diabetic mellitus in rats.

The hypoglycemic activity of Olive leaf extract was investigated in fasting health rats and alloxan–diabetic rats.

Blood samples were collected from the tail of rats and serum glucose measured on the 1st, 15th, 30th days of the experiment.

A significant reduction in blood glucose of diabetic animal’s (350.5±0.0348 e) mg/dl in case of administration of Olive leaves in comparison with diabetic control (373.4±0.0562 a) mg/dl.

The present study clearly indicated a significant antidiabetic activity with the Olive leaves and supports the traditional usage for the control of diabetes (Nadar et al., 2003), Aqueous crude extract considered as hypoglycemic agent reduce oxidative stress, indirectly by lowering blood glucose and preventing hyperinsulinemia (Casalino et al., 2002).

The study showed islets of Langerhans continuous infarctions and lymphocyte infiltration in alloxan–diabetic rats while the treatment group showed the islets irregularity in size, but they appeared normal with decreased granulation and some islets appeared very small, all of islets appeared normal as of the control animals.