The effect of estrogen and sodium chloride (NaCl) on fasting blood
sugar and weight gain was investigated in female diabetic rats. Changes
in serum sodium/potassium ratio on fasting blood sugar (FBS) was also
investigated. Female wister rats with an average weight of 150gms were
used for this study. 32 healthy rats were used for the control
experiments. They were divided into 4 subgroups of 8 rats each which
served as control, estrogen treated, NaCl treated, and combination of
estrogen and NaCl treated. The remaining 32 rats were made diabetic by
intraperitoneal injection of alloxan (100mg/kg body weight) and divided
into 4 sub groups as in the healthy rats. FBS, body weights and serum
sodium/potassium ratio were determined in all the animals. The study
indicates that both estrogen and sodium chloride significantly
(P<0.05) lowered FBS in the female diabetic rats. However, the
reduction of FBS level in the healthy (non-diabetic) rats - was
significant (P<0.001) - though not sustained throughout the study.
Treatments of the rats by using a combination of estrogen with sodium
chloride showed a significant (P<0.001) reduction of FBS level.
However, this reduction was not more than observed by treatment with
only estrogen. This means that the substances do not have a cumulative
effect in both diabetic and healthy rats. There was however, no
significant difference (P>0.05) in serum sodium/potassium ratio in
all the subgroups. The result of the investigation also demonstrates
that there is significant (P<0.05) retardation of the weight-gain
due to estrogen while sodium chloride significantly enhanced
weight-gain (P<0.001) in both healthy and diabetic female rats. It
was therefore concluded that both estrogen and sodium chloride enhance
glucose utilization