Effect of Aqueous Extract of Walnut Septum on Blood Glucose and Pancreatic Structure in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Mouse

Walnut is a medicinal plant that its different parts such as leaf, seed, root and green husk was shown to reduce blood glucose. In Iranian traditional medicine, septum of walnut shell (SWS) was recommended to reduce blood glucose. But this effect should be determined with scientific researches. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of the aqueous extract of SWS on blood glucose and histopathological structure of pancreas. For this purpose, 41 male bulb/C mice 25-30 gm were divided into five groups. All the animals received IP injection of streptozotocin (STZ) (220 mg/kg). Two weeks later, the diabetic animals were received daily oral treatment of normal saline and aqueous extract of SWS (200, 400, 600 and 800 mg/kg) respectively for four weeks. Blood samples were taken from retroorbital sinus before the start of the experiment and repeated each two week. At the end of experiment, the animals were sacrificed and the pancreatic tissues were fixed, prepared and stained by Hematoxylin- Eosin for light microscope studies. The results showed that in each group, the SWS extract reduced blood glucose in long time (p < 0.05), but this effect was not dose-dependent between groups. This study also showed that the SWS extract had not any effect on pancreatic structure. It seems that aqueous extract of SWS may reduce blood glucose without any effect on pancreatic structure. However, more investigations should be done to clarify these results.