Fig. 1

Polydatin improves metabolism abnormalities in diabetic rats. a Schematic representation of experimental protocol. Male Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats were fed a high fat diet for 4 weeks and were then injected intraperitoneally with streptozotocin (STZ, 30 mg/kg body weight) for 2 times in 24 h interval. Two weeks after injection, rats with fasting blood glucose levels over 11.1 mmol/L were considered to be diabetes mellitus. The diabetic rats were gavaged with either polydatin (100 mg/kg/day) or equal volume of vehicle for 8 weeks. b Chemical structure of polydatin. c Body weight of rats in different groups after 8-week polydatin or vehicle treatment. d Serum insulin level. e Fasting blood glucose level. f Serum total triglycerides (TG) level. g Serum total cholesterol (TC) level. h Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level. Results were expressed as means ± SEM (n = 7). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 versus Con; #P < 0.05, ##P < 0.01versus DM