الفهرس 
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Abstract
This study was held to evaluate the efficacy of curcumin and ginseng administration in amelrioration of the abnormal morphological changes which are induced by alloxan in the islets of Langerhans of the pancreas of rats. Fifty healthy adult male albino rats, weighing 180-200 gm were used. The rats were randomly divided into three groups: group I: ten (Control) rats; group II (Diabetic group): twenty rats in which the diabetes was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of alloxan in a dose of 100 mg/kg; and group III (Diabetic/Ginseng & Curcumin group): twenty rats in which the diabetes was induced as in group II, then after 7 days the rats received ginseng at a dose of 400 mg/kg, in addition to curcumin at a dose of 200 mg/kg daily orally by gastric intubation for further 30 days. Fasting blood samples were obtained for monitoring serum glucose levels of the three groups (after 7 days) and at end of experiment (after 37 days). The pancreata were dissected out and formalin fixed. Serial sections were done and then stained with hematoxyline& eosin and immunohistochemistry using anti-insulin, anti-glucagon and anti-PCNA antibodies. Morphometric studies were also done using ImageJ software and the percentage of immune-positive cells for each type of immuno-stained cells (insulin, glucagon& PCNA) was determined and the results are expressed as the percentage of positive cells against the total counted cells inside the islets. The results are expressed as Mean±SEM.
The results revealed that the group of rats, which was treated by alloxan as a single dose of 100 mg/kg by intraperitoneal injection showed high serum glucose levels as reported in the 7th and 37th days of the experiment. While treating the rats from the seventh day after alloxan injection and for four weeks using a combination of ginseng (400 mg/kg) and curcumin (200 mg/kg) orally daily resulted in a decrease in the serum glucose levels in those animals to reach normal values at the end of experiment.
The histological observations showed marked morphological changes of the pancreatic islets of the diabetic group as a result of alloxan treatment. The islets borders were seen indistinguishable from the surrounding exocrine tissue with marked degeneration of islets’ cells. Empty spaces, cytoplasmic vacuolation and cellular residues were noticed in the islets of the diabetic group. The islets’ cells also showed nuclear pyknosis and nuclear fragmentation. Inflammatory cells were seen surrounding and infiltrating the islets in the alloxan-induced rats. Four weeks after the administration of a combination of ginseng& curcumin inhibited the cellular infiltration that was seen in and around the islets, ducts and acini of the pancreas. Most of the islets in this group showed apparently normal morphology and apparently increased cellular density with H&E staining. To detect whether the combination of ginseng & curcumin treatment affected the β-cell mass or not, immunohistochemistry was performed using anti-insulin antibodies in the studied groups. In the diabetic group, there was a marked decrease in the number of immuno-stained insulin cells as compared with that of control. While treating the diabetics with ginseng & curcumin combination retained the normal intensity and number of cells stained with insulin in most of the islets of this group. These data were supported by morphometric studies which showed that in the diabetic group, the insulin immune-positive cell percentage was significantly much lower (34%) than that of the control (85%). While the diabetic/ginseng& curcumin group showed significantly higher percentage of anti-insulin cells (82%) than that of diabetic group (34%). In contrast, threre were non-significant differences between the control and that of diabetic/ginseng & curcumin groups regarding the mean percentage of insulin positive cells in their islets. Anti-glucagon immunostaining showed that alloxan treatment alone resulted in a complementary increase of the number of α-cell percentage inside the islets, but after treatment with combination of ginseng& curcumin the number of these cells returned back to their normal range. Anti-PCNA immunostaining was done to detect the replicating cells inside the islets in the studied groups. The group treated with alloxan alone showed 7% percentage of anti-PCNA positive nuclei and this percentage was significantly lower than that of the control (19%). The diabetic/ ginseng& curcumin group showed significantly much higher percentage of PCNA immune-positive cells (25%) than that of diabetic and control groups.