title: Effects of Hachimi-jio-gan (Ba-Wei-Di-Huang-Wan) on intestinal function in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.
abstract: We examined the effects of Hachimi-jio-gan (HJ) on the small intestinal function in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. The rats had free access to pellets containing 1% HJ extract powder for 4 weeks after STZ administration. The intestinal disaccharidase (sucrase and maltase) activity was elevated in STZ-treated rats compared with control rats, whereas it was significantly reduced by HJ administration. This suggested that HJ suppresses or delays monosaccharide production in the small intestinal epithelium. In addition, the intestinal mucosal weights and DNA contents that were significantly increased in the STZ-treated rats were restrained to the control level by HJ treatment. Simultaneously, we examined the changes in the plasma levels of glucagon-like peptide 2 (GLP-2), which is a trophic factor specific for the intestine. The plasma GLP-2 levels significantly increased in the STZ-treated rats, whereas HJ decreased the plasma GLP-2 levels. Thus intestinal mucosal weights and DNA contents correlated with plasma GLP-2 levels in diabetes-associated bowel growth. These results suggest that HJ may normalize or suppress the small intestinal disaccharidase activity and the epithelial cell proliferation mediated by GLP-2 in the animal model rats.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Clinical Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Osaka Ohtani University, Nishikiorikita, Tondabayashi City, Japan. hirotay@osaka-ohtani.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yoshihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hirotani
authors.forename: Takuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Mitsuko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Onda
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Arakawa
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Kazuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kitamura
authors.forename: Nobuo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kurokawa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D004186:Disaccharidases / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D053767:Glucagon-Like Peptide 2 / Q000097:blood; D006965:Hyperplasia; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000201:enzymology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size / Q000187:drug effects; D008517:Phytotherapy; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013311:Streptozocin