Table 2.

Characteristics of the animals in the reparative phase and mean alveolar diameter of lung parenchyma

		Body weight (g) at 60-day interval
Groups	Blood glucose (mmol/l)	Initial	Final	Instillation	Mean alveolar diameter (μm)
Matching control (11)	4.70 ± 0.17	221 ± 6	413 ± 15	PPE	59.65 ± 1.44‡
				Saline	51.50 ± 1.22
Diabetic (7)	28.73 ± 1.62*	234 ± 5	230 ± 19*	PPE	70.99 ± 2.34‡θδ
				Saline	54.24 ± 1.43
Diabetic + Insulin (7)	19.50 ± 2.27*†	229 ± 6	257 ± 4*	PPE	61.41 ± 1.05γ
				Saline	55.48 ± 1.59

Rats were rendered diabetic by the injection of alloxan (42 mg/kg, i.v.) 10 days before porcine pancreatic elastase (PPE, right lung) and saline (left lung) instillation. Diabetic rats were treated with 4 IU neutral protamine Hagedorn (NPH) insulin 2 h before instillation, followed by 2 IU/day NPH insulin for the next 50 days. Number of animals is indicated in parenthesis. Data are presented as means ± SEM and analysed by one-way anova followed by the Tukey–Kramer multiple comparisons test as follows

^*P < 0.001 compared with corresponding values in control group

^†P < 0.01 compared with values in diabetic group

^‡P < 0.001

^γP < 0.01 compared with values in saline-treated lungs

^θP < 0.001 compared with PPE-treated lungs in control group

^δP < 0.01 compared with PPE-treated lungs in diabetic + insulin group.