Natural Health Products and Metabolic Diseases Laboratory, Department of Pharmacology, Université de Montréal, Quebec, Canada.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2010 Nov 11;132(2):473-82. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2010.07.055. Epub 2010 Sep 9.
Type II diabetes and obesity are major health problems worldwide and aboriginal peoples are particularly at risk. To address this problem in Canadian native populations who find modern pharmaceuticals culturally inappropriate, our team is testing the traditional pharmacopeia of the James Bay Cree for anti-diabetic and anti-obesity activities. More specifically, the aim of the present study was to define the effects of traditional plants on intestinal glucose absorption, an under-appreciated anti-hyperglycaemic and anti-obesity activity.
Crude ethanol extracts of 17 Boreal forest medicinal plants were tested in vitro using the Caco-2 human enterocytic cell line and in vivo using an oral glucose tolerance test.
Thirteen of seventeen extracts were observed to significantly inhibit uptake when administered simultaneously with (3)H-deoxyglucose. Inhibition was dose-dependent and, in a few cases, even surpassed that induced by a combination of the positive controls. To validate these effects in vivo, four plant extracts were administered by intragastric gavage at 250 mg/kg to normal rats simultaneously with a 3g/kg bolus of glucose. This resulted in a decrease in peak glycaemia by approximately 40% for two of them. Similarly, only 2 extracts reduced glucose transport after long term incubation and this could be related to reductions in the expression of SGLT-1 or GLUT-2 proteins.
These findings indicate that competitive inhibition of intestinal glucose uptake can be achieved by crude extracts of medicinal plants. Such extracts could be taken with meals to control postprandial glycaemia and reduce caloric intake in high risk populations that are positively inclined towards traditional medicine.
二型糖尿病和肥胖症是全球范围内的主要健康问题，原住民尤其面临风险。为了解决加拿大原住民群体中对现代药物在文化上不适用的问题，我们的团队正在测试詹姆斯湾克里族的传统药物学，以寻找抗糖尿病和抗肥胖的活性成分。具体来说，本研究的目的是确定传统植物对肠道葡萄糖吸收的影响，这是一种被低估的降血糖和抗肥胖活性。
使用 Caco-2 人肠细胞系在体外和口服葡萄糖耐量试验在体内测试了 17 种北方森林药用植物的粗乙醇提取物。
17 种提取物中有 13 种在与（3）H-脱氧葡萄糖同时给药时观察到显著抑制摄取。抑制作用呈剂量依赖性，在少数情况下，甚至超过了阳性对照物的组合诱导的抑制作用。为了在体内验证这些作用，将 4 种植物提取物以 250mg/kg 的剂量通过胃内灌胃给予正常大鼠，同时给予 3g/kg 的葡萄糖冲击。这导致其中两种提取物的血糖峰值降低了约 40%。同样，只有 2 种提取物在长期孵育后降低了葡萄糖转运，这可能与 SGLT-1 或 GLUT-2 蛋白表达的减少有关。
这些发现表明，药用植物的粗提取物可以实现对肠道葡萄糖摄取的竞争性抑制。这种提取物可以与餐食一起服用，以控制餐后血糖，并减少对传统医学有积极倾向的高危人群的热量摄入。
