Abstract
Background and Objective: Diabetes Mellitus (DM) occurs when body cannot produce enough insulin or develops resistance to insulin at the level of insulin-sensitive tissues. This leads to high blood glucose (hyperglycemia) and the complications of DM. Anticancer chemotherapeutic agents producing cytotoxicity can cause DM by damaging pancreatic $-cells, reducing the production of insulin or its sensitivity in the body. The study was designed to evaluate the effect of acute treatment of common chemotherapeutic agents on the blood glucose levels in rats. Materials and Methods: The effects of acute chemotherapy with doxorubicin (DOX), cyclophosphamide (CYP) or fluorouracil (5-FU) on blood glucose levels and induction of DM were tested in female rats. Experimental animals were divided onto four groups such as; control (normal saline), DOX (2 mg kg(-1) b.wt.), CYP (50 mg kg(-1) b.wt.) and 5-FU (40 mg kg(-1) b.wt.). A single dose of anticancer drugs was administered by intra-peritoneal route for five days. The parameters such as; survival rate, blood glucose level, insulin tolerance and normalized body weight were determined. The data obtained was statistically compared by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's test to find the significance. Results: The data from the present study indicated that acute treatment of anticancer chemotherapeutic agents did not produce mortality nor significantly altered blood glucose level and insulin tolerance. However, a significant (p<0.001) decline in normalized body weight was observed at last day of the experiment. Conclusion: The result of the study suggests that single dose treatment of DOX, CYP and 5-FU for five days did not alter the blood glucose in rats.