Investigation of the ultrastructural and histopathological changes in coronary arteries of German shepherd dogs following alloxan induced diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common disease of the endocrine system in the body that is diagnosed by metabolic malfunction in the metabolism of carbohydrates, fat and proteins. This disease involves most  tissues of the body and the consequent deficiencies reduce their efficiency, cause infections and diseases in the body. Alloxan is a chemical which is used in inducing experimental diabetes in animals. In this research, 9 German shepherd dogs were provided, 5 of which was considered as our experimental group and the remaining 4 was considered as the control group. The necessary examinations were conducted to guarantee their health and the absence of diabetes was ascertained with intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT). 100 mg/kg of alloxan monohydrate were given to the experimental group. After the administration, animals were obsevered for clinical symptoms. If the symptoms indicate death, samples tissue of coronary arteries were taken. Microscopic and ultra structural deficiencies were checked for. The endothelial cells of the coronary arteries showed vacuolization of  cytoplasm with decreased transitional vesicles and thickened basal membrane. It was concluded that diabetes mellitus is a potent risk factor for the development of coronary atherosclerosis.

Key words: Diabetes mellitus, ultra structural, coronary arteries, dog.