Abstract:

In order to explore the hypoglycemic effect of lactoferrin-chromium in mice with experimental diabetes mellitus induced by alloxan, the diabetic animals were randomly divided into 3 lactoferrin groups administered lactoferrin at varying dosages (i.e., 1.4, 7 mg/(kg bw·d) and 14 mg/(kg bw·d), 3 lactoferrin-chromium complex groups administrated lactoferrinhromium complex at the same dosages as those of lactoferrin (1.67, 8.35 μg/(kg bw·d) and 16.7μg/(kg bw·d), calculated on the basis of chromium amount), negative control group administered saline at 10 mL/(kg bw·d), positive control group administered diformin at 250 mg/(kg bw·d). All the animals were administered once a day for 14 consecutive days. The results indicated that the high-dosage lactoferrin-chromium complex groups after 7 days of administration displayed a significantly lower blood glucose level (P ＜ 0.05) and a significant higher glucose tolerance (P ＜ 0.01) when compared with the negative control group. After 14 days, a significantly lower blood glucose level and a significantly higher glucose tolerance (P ＜ 0.01) were observed in the medium- and high-dosage lactoferrin-chromium complex groups. In contrast, after 7 and 14 days, lactoferrin failed to cause significant changes in blood glucose level and glucose tolerance (P ＞ 0.05) when compared with diabetic control group. Therefore, lactoferrin-chromium complex has significant hypoglycemic and glucose tolerance improving effects in diabetic mice in dosedependent and time-dependent manners.

Key words: lactoferrin/chromium complex, diabetic mice, blood glucose, glucose tolerance