Tehran University of Medical Sciences Traditional and Integrative Medicine 2476-5104 6 2 2021 06 21 78 83 Maryam Eskandari Mehrabadi Students Research Committee, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran Zahra Salemi Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran Farshad Eskandari Mehrabadi Islamic Azad University, Ayatollah Amoli Branch, Amol, Mazandaran, Iran 2021 01 20 2021 04 27 Bioflavonoids such as biochanin A (BCA), exhibit insulin mimetic or secretagogues activities and are considered as hypoglycemic compounds. Nesfatin-1 is secreted from the hypothalamic nuclei and recognized as a regulatory peptide, which can increase insulin sensitivity and affect glucose metabolism. In this study, effects of BCA, on serum nesfatin-1 level were examined in rats with streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes. We randomly divided 30 male Wistar rats into 2 control (6 rats per group) and 3 diabetic groups. Type I diabetes was induced using STZ (55 mg/kg bw) injection. Group 1 received 0.5% DMSO; while group 2 received 10 mg/kg body weight of BCA; group 3 (diabetic controls) received 0.5% DMSO; group 4, 10 mg/kg of BCA; and group 5, 15 mg/kg of BCA. The levels of serum insulin, nesfatin-1, and fasting blood glucose (FBG) were determined after 42 days. The serum insulin level increased; while FBG level significantly decreased in the BCA treatment groups. Both treatment groups had increased nesfatin-1 levels in comparison with the control groups; however, the difference was only significant in group 5 (p value < 0.05). Considering insulin and nesfatin-1 induction, BCA has potential hypoglycemic effects. Oral administration of 15 mg/kg BW of BCA showed greater efficacy than 10 mg/kg bw of BCA. https://jtim.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jtim/article/view/285