Histopathological effects of zinc oxide nanoparticles prepared by Vaccinium arctostaphylos ethanolic fruit extract on liver and pancreas of diabetic rats

The vast applications of nanotechnology in various fields including medicine, bring about the necessity to investigate the in vivo side effects of these materials. On this basis, we investigated the potential anti-diabetic activity of nanoparticles (NPs) along with toxicological effects on liver and pancreas tissue.

In this excremental research after preparation of ZnO nanoparticles and their characterization with SEM, EDX, and TEM, 30 rats were studied in 6 groups of 5 each. The groups included 1- Healthy control 2- Diabetic control 3- Diabetic - Insulin (10 U/kg) 4- Diabetic - Cranberry (150 mg/kg) 5- Diabetic-ZnO (8 mg/kg) 6- Diabetic-ZnO + extract (8 mg/kg). Diabetes was induced with alloxan monohydrate via intraperitoneal injection (170 mg/kg). Rats were treated intraperitoneal for 16 days and every four days examined for blood glucose levels, at the end of the treatment period, the liver and pancreatic tissues were analyzed by hematoxylin-eosin staining. Data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA and Tukey post hoc tests in SPSS.

The analysis of nanoparticles revealed the capping of organic constituents on the surface of the biological nanoparticles. The assessment of serum samples displayed a significant decrease in blood glucose levels in the group that was treated by NPs prepared by extract when compared to that of the diabetic control group (p≤0/05). The histopathological analysis did not show any damages to the studied organs.

The results obtained in the present study revealed that the bio-synthesized nanoparticles not only significantly decreased the blood glucose level of diabetic rats but also had no toxic effects on the liver and pancreas tissues at the concentrations used in this study.