The action of aminoguanidine on the liver of trained diabetic rats

BACKGROUND: This study evaluated the effect of aminoguanidine on liver of diabetic rats subject to physical exercises using histological and histochemical techniques. METHODS: The rats used in this study were divided into five groups: sedentary control, sedentary diabetic, trained diabetic, sedentary diabetic and treated with aminoguanidine, trained diabetic and treated with aminoguanidine. RESULTS: The results showed no effect of aminoguanidine on the liver tissue, although there was improvement with exercise training showing cytological, morpho-histological and histochemical alterations in liver cells of animals from groups trained diabetic and/or treated diabetic compared to those individuals in the sedentary control and sedentary diabetic. These changes included: hepatocytes hypertrophy, presence and distribution of polysaccharides in the hepatocytes cytoplasm and, especially, congestion of the liver blood vessels. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that aminoguanidine is not hepatotoxic, when used at dosage of 1 g/L for the treatment of diabetes complications, and confirmed that the practice of moderate physical exercise assuaged the damage caused by diabetes without the use of insulin. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/2251-6581-12-40) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.