β-ecdysterone from Cyanotis arachnoidea exerts hypoglycemic effects through activating IRS-1/Akt/GLUT4 and IRS-1/Akt/GLUT2 signal pathways in KK-Ay mice

• Published in: Journal of functional foods 2017-12, Vol.39, p.123-132
• Main Authors: Chen, Li, Zheng, Sijian, Huang, Mi, Ma, Xinhua, Yang, Jie, Deng, Shihao, Huang, Yun, Wen, Yanzhang, Yang, Xinzhou
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Akt; GLUT4; Hypoglycemic; IRS-1; IRβ; β-ecdysterone
• ISSN: 1756-4646; 2214-9414
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jff.2017.09.061

•β-ecdysterone increased GLUT4 translocation and glucose uptake in L6 cells.•β-ecdysterone relieved insulin resistance in vitro and in vivo.•β-ecdysterone could relieve metabolism disorders in KK-Ay mice.•β-ecdysterone reduced hyperglycemia through activating IRS-1/Akt pathway. Our present study investigated the anti-diabetic activity and potential mechanism of β-ecdysterone (β-EC) derived from Cyanotis arachnoidea. In vitro, β-EC exhibited a promising effect on increasing GLUT4 translocation by 1.6 folds and glucose uptake by 1.75 folds in L6 cells. In vivo, KK-Ay mice’s body weight, blood glucose levels and other related blood–lipid indexes can be significantly reduced with β-EC treatment. For the mechanism study, we have found that β-EC exhibited a significant protective effect on insulin resistance (IR) in L6 and HepG2 cells through increasing expressions of IRβ, p-Akt, p-IRS-1 and increasing the expressions of GLUT4 and GLUT2. The phosphorylation of Akt, IRS-1 and the expression of IRβ, GLUT4 and GLUT2 in the liver and skeletal muscle in KK-Ay mice were also significantly ameliorated after 4-weeks treatment with β-EC. According to our present findings, we could conclude that β-EC possessed the potential anti-diabetic effects through activating IRS-1/AKT/GLUT4 and IRS-1/AKT/GLUT2 pathways.