Apoptosis is an important biologic process that is involved in a variety of physiologic and pathologic conditions, including the regulation of
the pancreatic islet cell mass[47]. As commonly known, pancreatic islet
cell apoptosis plays an important role in the onset and development of
diabetes, thus limiting islet cell apoptosis could be a available therapeutic strategy to prevent and manage diabetes for that this approach may
actually reverse the disease to a greater degree rather than just lowering
blood glucose level[6,48]. In this study, we found that MLPII treatment
significantly inhibited pancreatic islet cell apoptosis in diabetic rats. In
addition, MLPII treatment not only increased the number of insulinproducingβ-cells, but also ameliorated the ultrastructural changes of
pancreaticβ-cells in diabetic rats. These data provide indirect evidence
for the anti-apoptotic potential function of MLPI