Type 2 diabetes is characterized by βcell apoptosis, insulin secretion
insufficient and insulin resistance[3,4]. Many previous studies reported
that the rats fed with high-fat diet (HFD) develop insulin resistance but
notβcell apoptosis or diabetes[41,42]. STZ is usually used to reproducibly induce both insulin-dependent and noninsulin-dependent diabetes
mellitus presently by inducingβcell death through alkylation of DNA,
and high-dose STZ could severely impair insulin secretion mimicking
type 1 diabetes[43]. However, combination of high fat diet and low
dose STZ could effectively induce pancreaticβ-cell apoptosis and a functional defect in insulin secretion, and thus this model was widely used to
induce type 2 diabetes [44–46]. In the present study, we successfully
established a model of diabetes in Wistar rats using a similar protocol,
to evaluate the therapeutic potential of the polysaccharide MLPII on pancreatic islet cell apoptosis and insulin secretory. Generally, ourfindings
revealed that MLPII functioned as an effective anti-diabetic component
in preventing pancreatic islet cells from gradually increasing apoptosis
and ameliorating insulin secretory capacity in diabetic rats