| Objective To observe how Banxia Xiexin Decoction alleviates pancreatic islet injury in type 2 diabetic rats and to probe the underlying molecular events along the Wnt/β-catenin cascade. Methods T2DM was reproduced in rats by feeding a high-fat diet together with an intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ). Successfully modelled animals were assigned to six arms, namely a normal control arm, a diabetic model arm, a metformin arm, and three arms given low-, medium- and high-dose Banxia Xiexin Decoction. Glucose and lipid metabolic indices and islet function parameters were measured, islet morphology was assessed after hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining, and both the extent of islet cell apoptosis and the protein levels of Wnt3a, β-catenin, CyclinD1 and C-myc were determined. Results Banxia Xiexin Decoction attenuated glucose and lipid metabolic disturbance and islet tissue damage, lowered the degree of islet cell apoptosis, and shifted the expression profile of the proteins belonging to the above cascade. Conclusion Banxia Xiexin Decoction protects pancreatic islets in T2DM rats, an effect that appears to involve interference with the Wnt/β-catenin cascade and consequent suppression of excessive islet cell apoptosis. |