Abstract

The current study was conducted to determine various haemato-biochemical alterations and histopathological changes in addition to evaluation of insulin monotherapy, insulin plus some herbal therapy including Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum), Garlic and Black seeds (Nigella sativa) as well as insulin plus oral metformin in alloxan induced canine diabetes mellitus. A total number of twelve clinically healthy adult stray male dogs were involved in this study and divided into two main groups. Group 1: included three normal male adult dogs served as a non-diabetic control group, Group 2: included nine male adult dogs that were subjected to experimental induction of diabetes mellitus by intravenous injection of alloxan and further divided according to therapeutic managemental protocol into three subgroups. Subgroup A: treated by insulin only, Subgroup B: treated by insulin plus herbal therapy and Subgroup C: treated by insulin plus oral metformin. Our obtained data showed that the best ameliorating effect was recorded in subgroup B which showed significant reduced blood glucose levels with a concomitant elevated serum insulin level. In conclusions, herbal medication with Fenugreek, Garlic and Black seeds had advantageous glucose lowering effect over chemical drugs with alleviation of common complications associated with canine diabetes mellites. Therefore, due to its encouraging results herbal therapy should be widely used as adjunctive therapy with insulin for potent glycemic control of canine diabetes mellites.

Key words: Canine diabetes mellitus; Insulin plus herbal therapy; Alloxan hydrate; Metformin, nigella sativa; Fenugreek.