title: Anti-diabetic effect of ginsenoside Re in ob/ob mice.
abstract: We evaluated the anti-diabetic effects of ginsenoside Re in adult male C57BL/6J ob/ob mice. Diabetic ob/ob mice with fasting blood glucose levels of approximately 230 mg/dl received daily intraperitoneal injections of 7, 20 and 60 mg/kg ginsenoside Re for 12 consecutive days. Dose-related effects of ginsenoside Re on fasting blood glucose levels were observed. After the 20 mg/kg treatment, fasting blood glucose levels were reduced to 188+/-9.2 and 180+/-10.8 mg/dl on Day 5 and Day 12, respectively (both P<0.01 compared to vehicle group, 229+/-9.5 and 235+/-13.4 mg/dl, respectively). The EC(70) of ginsenoside Re was calculated to be 10.3 mg/kg and was used for subsequent studies. Consistent with the reduction in blood glucose, there were significant decreases in both fed and fasting serum insulin levels in mice treated with ginsenoside Re. With 12 days of ginsenoside treatment, glucose tolerance of ob/ob mice increased significantly, and the area under the curve for glucose decreased by 17.8% (P<0.05 compared to vehicle treatment). The hypoglycemic effect of the ginsenoside persisted even at 3 days of treatment cessation (blood glucose levels: 198+/-13.1 with ginsenoside treatment vs. 253+/-20.3 mg/dl with vehicle, P<0.01). There were no significant changes in body weight or body temperature. Preliminary microarray analysis revealed differential expression of skeletal muscle genes associated with lipid metabolism and muscle function. The results suggest that ginsenoside Re may prove to be useful in treating type 2 diabetes.
authors.affiliation: Tang Center for Herbal Medicine Research, The Pritzker School of Medicine, The University of Chicago, MC 4028, IL 60637, USA.
authors.forename: Jing-Tian
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Sangeeta R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Mehendale
authors.forename: Xinmin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Quigg
authors.forename: Xiaoyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Chong-Zhi
authors.initials: CZ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ji An
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Han H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Aung
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: A Rue
authors.forename: Graeme I
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: Chun-Su
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Yuan
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000187:drug effects*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000628:therapy*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D036145:Ginsenosides / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D036145:Ginsenosides; D007328:Insulin; C049864:ginsenoside Re