Table 1 Body weight (BW), food intake, homoeostasis model assessment of beta-cell function (HOMA-B), pancreas/BW ratio and the frequency of apoptotic islet cells in normal and diabetic rats after 16 weeks of GSPs treatment

Initial BW (g)

459.85 ± 6.93

466.73 ± 7.17

441. 06 ± 11.05

453.72 ± 13.99

437.92 ± 9.71

454.30 ± 10.34

Final BW (g)

584.29 ± 13.44 ^#

544.63 ± 14.88 ^#

417.88 ± 9.75 ^*

436.38 ± 9.00 ^*

447.57 ± 12.74 ^*

446.63 ± 10.57 ^*

Initial food intake (g/day)

19.43 ± 0.83 ^#

17.77 ± 1.32 ^#

30.30 ± 1.03 ^*

29.93 ± 1.09 ^*

29.15 ± 1.69 ^*

29.81 ± 0.44 ^*

Final food intake (g/day)

23.88 ± 1.87 ^#

20.31 ± 0.73 ^#

38.83 ± 1.64 ^*

37.31 ± 1.65 ^*

34.30 ± 1.46 ^*

30.74 ± 0.23 ^*

HOMA-B

176.34 ± 7.88 ^#

228.63 ± 10.63 ^{* #}

35.61 ± 1.62 ^*

47.77 ± 3.06 ^*

46.76 ± 1.54 ^*

51.51 ± 2.91 ^{* #}

Pancreas weight (g)

1.33 ± 0.03 ^#

1.31 ± 0.04 ^#

1.16 ± 0.04 ^*

1.19 ± 0.07 ^*

1.20 ± 0.04

1.22 ± 0.04

Pancreas/BW ratio (‰)

2.27 ± 0.09 ^#

2.40 ± 0.10 ^#

2.84 ± 0.15 ^*

2.73 ± 0.10 ^*

2.69 ± 0.11 ^*

2.74 ± 0.09 ^*

Apoptotic cells/islet

1.75 ± 0.37 ^#

1.58 ± 0.31 ^#

8.92 ± 0.87 ^*

7.75 ± 0.77 ^*

7.42 ± 0.79 ^*

5.36 ± 0.54 ^{* #}