The effects of nicotine on the serum level of insulin in adult male Wistar rats

Nicotine is an alkaloid of dried Nicotiana tobacum leaves used by millions of people worldwide through cigarette smoking. Nicotiine affects central nervous centers and causes changes in cardiovascular, nervous, and endocrinal activities. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of nicotine on the serum level of insulin in adult male Wistar rats. In this empirical research work, 50 adult male Wistar rats were divided to 5 groups of sham, control and 3 experimental groups. The test group was divided into 3 subgroups containing 10 animals per group received intraperitoneally (IP) 0.5, 1.0 or 1.5 mg/kg body weight nicotine in 1 ml saline for 5 days. The control group received only the saline through the same route for the same period of time. Twenty four hours after the last injections, blood was drawn from the rat ventricles and serum level of the insulin was measured using ELISA and related kits. The data were statistically analyzed by ANOVA using SPSS version 18. The results showed that nicotine administration at various doses enhances the serum level of insulin and an increase in the dose further elevates the insulin level significantly (P<0.01). According to the results it can be concluded that nicotine in mice with a shortage of insulin, stimulates insulin secretion. Therefore, further investigations for the drugs that can be used in the treatment of pancreatic gland could be benefitia