Vitamin D Increases Igf-I and Insulin Levels in Experimental Diabetic Rats Publisher Pubmed



Derakhshanian H¹ ; Javanbakht MH¹ ; Zarei M¹ ; Djalali E² ; Djalali M¹
Source: Growth Hormone and IGF Research Published:2017

Abstract

Introduction and objective Previous studies have found that IGF-I may play an important role in glucose metabolism. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of vitamin D intake on the serum levels of glucose, insulin, and IGF-I in experimental diabetic rats. Material and methods A total of 24 male Sprague–Dawley rats aged six to seven months, with an average weight of 300 ± 30 g, were randomly divided into three groups (eight rats per group). The first group served as control and the other two groups received an intraperitoneal injection of 45 mg/kg streptozotocin (STZ) to develop diabetes. Then groups were treated for four weeks either with placebo or vitamin D (two injections of 20,000 IU/kg). Results At the end of the experiment, two injection of vitamin D were found to result in a significant increase in plasma cholecalciferol, which could improve hyperglycaemia and hypoinsulinemia in diabetic rats. HbA1c concentration had a slight and insignificant decrease following vitamin D intake. In addition, a significant decline was observed in the serum IGF-I level of STZ-treated rats in comparison to the controls, which was compensated in the vitamin D group. The serum vitamin D concentration was positively correlated to the changes in IGF-I level by Pearson test. Conclusions These data showed for the first time that vitamin D intake could significantly improve fasting plasma glucose, insulin, and IGF-I in an experimental type 1 diabetes model. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd