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Abstract
Diabetes mellitus has now assumed epidemic proportions in many countries of the world. It is now taking its place as one of the main threats to human health in the 21st century. It is characterized by elevated serum glucose levels resulting from defect in insulin production, secretion or both. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells are multipotent stroma cells which can provide a promising treatment in tissue regeneration.The aim of this work is to explore the possibility of mesenchymal stem cells to generate new sources of beta cells. Fifty male albino rats were divided into five groups. group 1 served as control. Groups 2, 3, 4 and 5 served as diabetic rats by single subcutaneous injection of streptozotocin (35 mg/ kg.b.w.). group 3 was treated with insulin daily, group 4 was treated with single dose of 2x10⁶ stem cell and group 5 was treated with combined treatment. After 40 days, all the animals were sacrificed and blood samples were collected to measure glucose and insulin levels. Pancreatic tissue was removed in order to examine the changes in the pancreatic islets and determine their area and diameter by image analysis. All this data was statistically analyzed. Diabetic group showed highly significant increase in glucose level and high reduction in insulin level, pancreatic islet size, diameter, number and area. In group 4 there was an increase in insulin level, pancreatic islet diameter, area and size meanwhile in the insulin and combined groups no changes occurred. In conclusion, stem cell therapy has the ability to reduce blood glucose level in diabetic rats and restore the function of islet beta cells