Oral Administration of the High-Chromium Yeast Improve Blood Plasma Variables and Pancreatic Islet Tissue in Diabetic Mice

The in vivo effects of oral administration of the high-chromium yeast to healthy and diabetic mice are described. Given that these complexes are proposed to function by potentiating the actions of insulin and activating the insulin receptor kinase, changes in lipid and carbohydrate metabolism would be expected. After 15 weeks administration (500 mu g Cr/kg body mass) to healthy mice, abnormal metabolism and pathological change were not observed. After 15 weeks of treatment (0-1,000 mu g Cr/kg body mass) of diabetic mice, the effect of high-chromium yeast on blood lipids and blood glycosylated hemoglobin (GHb) of diabetes are not consistent. High-chromium yeast results in a lowering (P<0.05) of GHb and triglyceride, lowering (P<0.01) of total cholesterol, and restoration (P<0.01) of insulin; these results are in stark contrast to those of diabetic mice of administration of normal yeast, which have no effect on these parameters and serve as control group. The histopathological analysis of pancreas islet shows that high-chromium yeast could profoundly protect the impaired pancreatic islet and beta-cells from inflammatory infiltration and fibrosis.