Gynura divaricata ameliorates hepatic insulin resistance by modulating insulin signalling, maintaining glycolipid homeostasis and reducing inflammation in type 2 diabetic mice

• Published in: Toxicology research (Cambridge) Vol. 8; no. 6; pp. 928 - 938
• Main Authors: Dong, Xuan, Zhao, Shu-Xiang, Xu, Bing-Qing, Zhang, Yu-Qing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 01.11.2019
• Subjects: 1-Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; AKT protein; Blood glucose; Chemistry; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes mellitus (non-insulin dependent); Epidemics; Functional foods & nutraceuticals; Glucokinase; Glucose; Glucose metabolism; Glucose-6-phosphatase; Gynura; Herbal medicine; Homeostasis; Hyperglycemia; Inflammation; Insulin; Insulin resistance; Lipid metabolism; Lipids; Liver; Medicinal plants; Metabolism; Molecular modelling; Signal transduction; Signaling
• ISSN: 2045-452X; 2045-4538; 2045-4538
• DOI: 10.1039/c9tx00191c

Diabetes mellitus, one of the fastest growing epidemics worldwide, has become a serious health problem in modern society. (GD), an edible medicinal plant, has been shown to have hypoglycaemic effects. The molecular mechanisms by which GD improves hepatic insulin resistance (IR) in mice with type 2 diabetes (T2D) remain largely unknown. The aerial parts of GD were prepared in a lyophilized powder, which was added into the diet of T2D mice for 4 weeks. GD could result in an obvious decrease in fasting blood glucose and insulin levels in T2D mice. Meanwhile, the underlying mechanisms involved in the insulin-signalling pathway, glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism and inflammatory reaction in the liver tissue were also investigated by western blot, which indicated that GD further ameliorated hepatic IR by activating the PI3K/p-AKT pathway, decreasing the levels of hepatic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and glucose-6-phosphatase and increasing the levels of glucokinase and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ in the livers of T2D mice. GD has the potential to alleviate both hyperglycaemia and hepatic IR in T2D mice. Therefore, GD might be a promising functional food or medicine for T2D treatment.