Puerarin Protects Pancreatic β-Cells in Obese Diabetic Mice via Activation of GLP-1R Signaling
Abstract
Diabetes is characterized by a loss and dysfunction of the β-cell. Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP-1R) signaling plays an important role in β-cell survival and function. It is meaningful to identify promising agents from natural products which might activate GLP-1R signaling. In this study, puerarin, a diet isoflavone, was evaluated its beneficial effects on β-cell survival and GLP-1R pathway. We showed that puerarin reduced the body weight gain, normalized blood glucose, and improved glucose tolerance in high-fat diet-induced and db/db diabetic mice. Most importantly, increased β-cell mass and β-cell proliferation but decreased β-cell apoptosis were observed in puerarin-treated diabetic mice as examined by immunostaining of mice pancreatic sections. The protective effect of puerarin on β-cell survival was confirmed in isolated mouse islets treated with high glucose. Further mechanism studies showed that the circulating level of GLP-1 in mice was unaffected by puerarin. However, puerarin enhanced GLP-1R signaling by up-regulating expressions of GLP-1R and pancreatic and duodenal homeobox 1, which subsequently led to protein kinase B (Akt) activation but forkhead box O1 inactivation, and promoted β-cell survival. The prote...Continue Reading
References
Citations
Molecular Mechanisms of Apoptosis Induction and Its Regulation by Fatty Acids in Pancreatic β-Cells.
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