Biometry and Nutrition Group, Agharkar Research Institute, Pune 411 004, India.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2013 Jun 28;436(2):278-82. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2013.05.093. Epub 2013 Jun 4.
Plants have been used for the treatment of diabetes since time immemorial. In the present study, insulin-like protein (ILP) is purified from Costus igneus belonging to family Costaceae from Western ghats of India. The ILP showed cross reactivity with murine anti-insulin antibodies hence was purified by affinity chromatography using anti-insulin antibodies. The characterization of ILP showed that it is structurally different from insulin but functionally similar. The ILP showed a hypoglycemic activity in an in vitro assay with insulin responsive cell line RIN 5f. Interestingly ILP showed significant decrease in blood glucose level when administered orally in oral glucose tolerance test. This was compared to insulin a positive control given intraperitoneally in streptozotocine induced diabetic mice. There was no toxic effect seen on animals after administrating the ILP. Therefore we conclude that the ILP purified in the present study from C. igneus is a novel protein having hypoglycemic activity.
自古以来，植物就被用于治疗糖尿病。在本研究中，从印度西高止山脉的 Costaceae 科的 Costus igneus 中纯化出胰岛素样蛋白（ILP）。该 ILP 与鼠抗胰岛素抗体发生交叉反应，因此使用抗胰岛素抗体通过亲和层析进行纯化。ILP 的特性表明它在结构上与胰岛素不同，但在功能上相似。ILP 在具有胰岛素反应性的细胞系 RIN 5f 的体外测定中显示出降血糖活性。有趣的是，ILP 在口服葡萄糖耐量试验中口服给药时，血糖水平显着降低。这与在链脲佐菌素诱导的糖尿病小鼠中腹膜内给予的阳性对照胰岛素进行了比较。在给动物施用 ILP 后没有观察到毒副作用。因此，我们得出结论，从 C. igneus 中纯化的本研究中的 ILP 是一种具有降血糖活性的新型蛋白。
