Abstract

Nicotine is an alkaloid used by millions of people worldwide through cigarette smoking and has adverse effects on every organ and particularly on the endocrine system. Also, millions of humans suffer from diabetes due to either insulin deficiency or insulin resistance. The present study reports the effects of nicotine on the serum level of insulin in adult male Wistar rats. In this empirical research work, we used 50 adult male Wistar rats weighing from 220 to 250 g. The test groups was divided into 3 subgroups containing 10 animals per group received intraperitoneally (IP) either 0.5, 1.0 or 1.5 mg/kg body weight nicotine in 1 ml saline for 5 days and the control group received only the saline through the same route for the same period of time. Twenty four hours after the last injections, blood was drawn from the rat ventricles for serum insulin determination. The results showed that nicotine administration at various dosages enhances the serum level of insulin and an increase in the dosage further elevates the insulin level significantly. It could be concluded from this investigation that nicotine therapy may be beneficial for patients suffering from hypoinsulinism.

Key words: Nicotine, insulin, rats.