Effects of Cinnamon on VEGF and NF-κB Immunoreaction in The Lung Tissue of Rats with Experimentally Induced Diabetes

Abstract

Objective: Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder described as hyperglycemia induced by insulin deficiency or resistance. Increasing evidence in studies has shown that the lung is the target of diabetic complications. According to traditional medicine theories, cinnamon is considered a supportive treatment method for diabetics. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of cinnamon on the immunohistochemical expression of VEGF and NF-κB in lung tissue of streptozotocin-induced experimental diabetic rats.
 Material and Method: Thirty-two male rats were randomly divided into four groups: Diabetes, Diabetes + cinnamon, Cinnamon, and Control. The immunohistochemical expression of VEGF and NF-κB in the lung tissue was determined by using the streptavidin-biotin complex method.
 Results: It was determined that while cinnamon application alone did not change VEGF expression in lung tissue, the decreased VEGF expression in the diabetes group increased with the cinnamon application. When the immunostaining in the groups was examined no difference was observed in NF-κB immunoreaction between the control and cinnamon groups. As a remarkable finding, in the diabetic group's lung tissue, there were strong positive NF-κB reactions. In addition, a weak positive NF-κB reaction was detected in the diabetes+cinnamom group.
 Conclusion: As a result, in our study cinnamon caused decreased the increase in NF-κB expression caused by diabetes and increased the decreased VEGF expression. In conclusion, we believe that this study will be useful in understanding possible cytokine mechanism changes that may occur in the lung tissue due to diabetes and in the development of treatment methods.