The major purpose of our study is to evaluate the impact of cinnamon on long term prediabetic induced renal alterations caused by intraperitonial induction of neonatal streptozotocin (nSTZ). Two-day old male Sprague Dawley (SD) rat pups (n=30) received a single intra peritoneal injection of STZ (90 mg/kg bw) dissolved in citrate buffer, pH while Control pups (n=8) received the vehicle alone. All rats were maintained on an AIN-93G/M diet in individual cages and a subset of pre-diabetic animals received 3% cinnamon in the AIN-93 diet. The majority of nSTZ rats exhibited impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) (2h glucose>140mg/dl) or pre-diabetes by 2 months and the same was maintained up to the 10 months as evidenced by OGTT as well as blood glucose levels. Functional abnormalities of the kidney were studied by plasma as well as urinary parameters. Renal pathological changes were observed by H&E staining and immunoblotting was performed to determine the protein expressions of nephrin and podocin. Urinary albumin, urea levels are elevated, whereas plasma albumin levels are decreased in pre-diabetes rats compared to control rats. Protein and mRNA expression levels of nephrin and podocin were lower in PD animals when compared to control. Cinnamon cinnamon (CN) reduces urinary albumin levels, and also marginally prevented the loss of protein and mRNA expressions of nephrin and podocin. | Cinnamon attenuates neonatal Streptozotocin (NSTZ) induced pre-diabetic renal alterations in the SD rat model via maintenance of proper glucose homeostasis and antioxidant property
