Abstract
Although medicinal plants have been historically used for diabetes treatment throughout the world, few of them have been validated by scientific
criteria. Recently, a large diversity of animal models has been developed to better understand the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus and new drugs
have been introduced in the market to treat this disease. The aim of this work was to review the available animal models of diabetes and some in
vitro models which have been used as tools to investigate the mechanism of action of drugs with potential antidiabetic properties. In addition, a
MEDLINE/PUBMED search for articles on natural products, pancreatectomy and diabetes mellitus treatment published between 1996 and 2006
was done. In the majority of the studies, natural products mainly derived from plants have been tested in diabetes models induced by chemical
agents. This review contributes to the researcher in the ethnopharmacology field to designs new strategies for the development of novel drugs to
treat this serious condition that constitutes a global public health.
© 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Diabetes mellitus; Animal models; Genetic studies; Natural products