Induction of Diabetes: Induction of diabetes was carried
out following the method described by Maiti et al. [22].
Rats were fasted for 12 hrs before STZ injection. Freshly
prepared STZ solution was injected in rats
intraperitioneally (i.p.) as a single dose (50 mg/kg b.wt in
0.2 ml of 0.05 M. citrate buffer, pH: 4.5), then animals
were allowed to drink 5 % glucose solution overnight to
minimize death from hypoglycemia [23]. Seventy-two hrs
later, blood samples were obtained from retro-orbital
venous plexus of each rat by a fine capillary glass tube
and the blood glucose concentration was determined to
confirm induction of diabetes, the non-diabetic rats were
excluded from the study, animals with blood glucose
levels > 300 mg/dl were considered diabetic and used in
this experiment.