Abstract: We have previously prepared a polysaccharide from sweet corn cobs named SCP-80-1 and have demonstrated it to have a good hypoglycemic effect in vitro. In this study, we evaluated the hypoglycemic effect of SCP-80-1 on streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. The diabetic animals were administered intragastrically with SCP at doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg mb or metformin at 200 mg/kg mb for 28 days. The fasting blood glucose, glucose tolerance, insulin content, blood lipids, visceral organ indices and pancreatic tissue sections were measured. The results showed that SCP-80-1 could decrease the fasting blood glucose level and postmeal blood glucose level, and improve the glucose tolerance of diabetic rats. It was also found that SCP-80-1 could improve blood lipid levels by reducing the levels of total cholesterol, triglyceride, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and increasing the level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. In addition, SCP-80-1 could reduce organ swelling to a certain extent, repair the damaged islet tissue, and increase the number of islet B cells. Therefore, SCP-80-1 can effectively regulate the blood glucose level of diabetic rats, improve glucose tolerance and repair the injured islet tissue, indicating that this polysaccharide is a natural hypoglycemic agent that is promising for application in the treatment of diabetes mellitus.

Key words: diabetes mellitus, sweet corn cob polysaccharide, hypoglycemia, blood lipid level, pancreatic tissue