Morphoanatomy of striated myofibers in streptozotocin-induced diabetic wistar rats: assuaging effect of combined doses of Vernonia amygdalina and Azadirachta indica

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Azadirachta indica and Vernonia amygdalina extracts on the morphoanatomy of striated  myofibrils in diabetic rat models. Methodology: Thirty Wistar rats randomly assigned into 5 groups of 6 rats/group were used. Group A received distilled water only, B (herbal) received A. indica (500 mg/kg/day) and V. amygdalina (400 mg/kg/day) simultaneously, C were diabetic rats, D were diabetic rats treated with  herbal extracts combined and E, diabetic rats treated with metformin. Diabetes was induced with streptozotocin (70 mg/kg). Muscles glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and blood glucose levels were determined. The rats were sacrificed at the end of 60days treatment. The quadriceps femoris  muscle harvested for histology. Results: Diabetic herbal treated rats became euglycemic by the end of 8 weeks. GPx activity was significantly (p<0.05) elevated compared to control.  The histology of skeletal muscle fibers of the diabetic rats treated with herbal formulation and metformin showed minimal level of damage.Conclusions: The findings in this study showed that the herbal formulation could be used in treatment of diabetes and in ameliorating the  associated muscular cytoarchitectural alterations. Keywords: diabetic, extract, glutathione, peroxidase