STZ, the most widely used agent, induced
severe insulin deficient diabetes in rats and other
rodents when given as a single high dose (50-100
mg/kg in rats). At this dosage, STZ caused
pancreatic beta-cell necrosis and insulin typically
fell to 10-30 % of normal leading to hyperglycemia with
in 1-2 days. This imitated type-1 diabetes (Ozturk
et al., 1996). When STZ was injected to adult
rats, no evidence of beta-cell function recovery
was detected (Bonner-Weir et al., 1981).
Unfortunately, in this study, none of the Thai
traditional antidiabetic regimens decreased the blood
glucose level of the insulin dependent or type-1
diabetic rats.