Protective effects of rutin on liver injury in type 2 diabetic db/db mice

• Published in: Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy 2018-11, Vol.107, p.721-728
• Main Authors: Liang, Weishi, Zhang, Dandan, Kang, Jiali, Meng, Xubing, Yang, Jingbo, Yang, Lei, Xue, Ning, Gao, Qingyao, Han, Shuying, Gou, Xiangbo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Advanced glycation end products; Alanine Transaminase - blood; Animals; Aspartate Aminotransferases - blood; Blood Glucose - metabolism; Cell Proliferation - drug effects; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental - blood; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental - enzymology; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental - pathology; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - blood; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - enzymology; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - pathology; Glucose Tolerance Test; Glycation End Products, Advanced - metabolism; Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta - metabolism; Hep G2 Cells; HepG2 cells; Humans; Insulin - blood; Insulin Receptor Substrate Proteins - metabolism; Insulin signal pathway; Liver - drug effects; Liver - injuries; Liver - pathology; Liver injury; Male; Mice; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases - metabolism; Protective Agents - pharmacology; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt - metabolism; Rutin; Rutin - pharmacology; Signal Transduction - drug effects; Type 2 diabetes
• ISSN: 0753-3322; 1950-6007
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biopha.2018.08.046

•Rutin can protect diabetic liver by alleviating inflammation, steatosis, fibrosis.•Rutin can facilitate signal transduction of liver insulin signal pathway.•Rutin can inhibit the generation of AGEs in vivo and vitro.•Rutin can also promote the proliferation of hepatocytes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective effect of rutin on the liver of type 2 diabetic mice and explore the correlation mechanism. The db/db mice, selected as the type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) models, have random blood glucose (RBG) and glucose level after 2 h of oral glucose loading of more than 16.7 mmol/L. After administration of 120 mg/kg or 60 mg/kg rutin, to T2DM mice, RBG, oral glucose tolerance, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in serum, and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in vivo and vitro of different groups were detected. The liver pathological changes were observed under light and electron microscopy. Western blotting was used to detect the protein expression of insulin receptor substrate 2 (IRS-2) and phosphorylation of phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K) on p85, Akt on Ser473, glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK-3β) on Ser9, real-time quantitative PCR was used to detect IRS-2 mRNA expression. Moreover, dynamically observing the effect of rutin on the generation of AGEs in non-enzymatic protein glycosylated system, Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) method was used to detect the effect of rutin on proliferation activity of HepG2 liver cells. The results showed that RBG and glucose levels of oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) of mice in model group were significantly higher than that of normal group, which were significantly reduced after the rutin treatment. Rutin could reduce the ALT, AST activities and AGEs level in serum and potentiate the expression of IRS-2, P-PI3K (p85), P-Akt (Ser473), P-GSK-3β (Ser9) protein and IRS-2 mRNA in the liver tissue of db/db mice. Moreover, rutin could significantly alleviate the structure disorder of liver, reduce the degeneration and necrosis of liver cells and formation of collagen fibers of db/db mice. The results in vitro also showed that rutin could obviously inhibit the generation of AGEs, and promoted the proliferation activity of high glucose-stimulating HepG2 cells. In general, the protective effect of rutin on the liver of T2DM may be mediated by facilitating signal transduction and activated state of insulin IRS-2/PI3K/Akt/GSK-3β signal pathway, promoting hepatocyte proliferation