Insulinotropic Effect of Ovarian Steroid Hormones in Streptozotocin Diabetic Female Mice

To investigate the protective effect of ovarian sex steroids against streptozotocin diabetes, groups of ovariectomized streptozotocin diabetic female mice were treated orally with estradiol-17 beta (5 and 500 ug/kg/day) or progesterone (1 mg/kg/day) for 10 weeks. Streptozotocin produced a more severe hyperglycaemia and a greater fall in plasma insulin concentrations in ovariectomized mice than intact female mice. The estradiol-17 beta and progesterone treatments reduced both the severity of the hyperglycaemia and the fall in plasma insulin. Loss of pancreatic insulin after streptozotocin administration was reduced in intact mice and in mice treated with estradiol-17 beta. These observations suggest that ovarian sex steroids reduce the severity of streptozotocin diabetes at least partly by countering the cytotoxic effect of the drug on the islet B-cells, thereby reducing the fall in pancreatic and plasma insulin.