title: Isothiocyanate-rich Moringa oleifera extract reduces weight gain, insulin resistance, and hepatic gluconeogenesis in mice.
abstract: METHODS
  Moringa oleifera (moringa) is tropical plant traditionally used as an antidiabetic food. It produces structurally unique and chemically stable moringa isothiocyanates (MICs) that were evaluated for their therapeutic use in vivo.
  
  
  RESULTS
  C57BL/6L mice fed very high fat diet (VHFD) supplemented with 5% moringa concentrate (MC, delivering 66 mg/kg/d of MICs) accumulated fat mass, had improved glucose tolerance and insulin signaling, and did not develop fatty liver disease compared to VHFD-fed mice. MC-fed group also had reduced plasma insulin, leptin, resistin, cholesterol, IL-1β, TNFα, and lower hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase (G6P) expression. In hepatoma cells, MC and MICs at low micromolar concentrations inhibited gluconeogenesis and G6P expression. MICs and MC effects on lipolysis in vitro and on thermogenic and lipolytic genes in adipose tissue in vivo argued these are not likely primary targets for the anti-obesity and anti-diabetic effects observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Data suggest that MICs are the main anti-obesity and anti-diabetic bioactives of MC, and that they exert their effects by inhibiting rate-limiting steps in liver gluconeogenesis resulting in direct or indirect increase in insulin signaling and sensitivity. These conclusions suggest that MC may be an effective dietary food for the prevention and treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Carrie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Waterman
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Patricio
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rojas-Silva
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.|Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Turkey.
authors.forename: Tugba Boyunegmez
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Tumer
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kuhn
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
authors.forename: Allison J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Richard
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
authors.forename: Shawna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wicks
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
authors.forename: Jacqueline M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Stephens
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
authors.forename: Zhong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
authors.forename: Randy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mynatt
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cefalu
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Ilya
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Raskin
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D019440:Anti-Obesity Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001823:Body Composition; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000188:drug therapy; D059305:Diet, High-Fat; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000517:prevention & control; D005943:Gluconeogenesis / Q000187:drug effects*; D005952:Glucose-6-Phosphatase / Q000097:blood; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D053583:Interleukin-1beta / Q000097:blood; D017879:Isothiocyanates / Q000494:pharmacology*; D020738:Leptin / Q000097:blood; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D029588:Moringa oleifera / Q000737:chemistry*; D009765:Obesity / Q000188:drug therapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology; D052243:Resistin / Q000097:blood; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D019440:Anti-Obesity Agents; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents; D007328:Insulin; D053583:Interleukin-1beta; D017879:Isothiocyanates; D020738:Leptin; D010936:Plant Extracts; D052243:Resistin; C499623:Retn protein, mouse; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; C037152:isothiocyanic acid; D002784:Cholesterol; D005952:Glucose-6-Phosphatase
keywords: Diabetes; Insulin resistance; Isothiocyanates; Moringa oleifera; Obesity