Discipline of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Private Bag X54001, University Road, Durban, 4000, South Africa.
Discipline of Biological Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Private Bag X54001, University Road, Durban, 4000, South Africa.
Biomed Pharmacother. 2019 Apr;112:108715. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2019.108715. Epub 2019 Mar 1.
Dysregulation of glucose and glycogen metabolism are crucial mechanisms implicated in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Centella asiatica (L.) Urban (Apiaceae) has been utilized as a traditional medicine in Africa and Asia for centuries and is commercially available as a dietary supplement.
We explored for the first time, the possible efficacy of Centella asiatica (CA) extract in ameliorating T2DM-induced changes in key enzymes involved in glucose and glycogen metabolism in the rat skeletal muscle.
Diabetic rats were orally treated with vehicle, CA (500 and 1000 mg/kg) or metformin (300 mg/kg) daily for 14 days. Skeletal muscle activities of hexokinase (HK), phosphofructokinase (PFK) and fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase) were determined by spectrophotometric assays while those of glycogen synthase (GS) and glycogen phosphorylase (GP) were assayed radio-chemically. Histological examination of skeletal muscle was also performed.
Rats with induced T2DM had reduced activities of HK (25%), PFK (88%), and GS (38%) when compared to non-diabetic rats. Treatment of diabetic rats with CA500 increased the activities of PFK (7-fold), and FBPase (23%). Further, treatment of diabetic rats with CA1000 also increased the activities of GS (27%) and GP (50%) with little change in these parameters for diabetic rats treated with CA500. These effects probably led to the reduced blood glucose level and elevated skeletal muscle glycogen content observed in CA-treated rats relative to diabetic controls. Furthermore, CA treated rats had reduced the morphological damage of skeletal muscle fibres compared to the non-treated diabetic control rats.
Our findings strongly suggest that the anti-diabetic effects of CA in part target muscle glucose and glycogen metabolism and hence supporting its folkloric medical use as an anti-diabetic remedy.
葡萄糖和糖原代谢失调是 2 型糖尿病（T2DM）的关键机制。积雪草（Centella asiatica（L.）Urban）（伞形科）在非洲和亚洲作为传统药物使用已有数百年历史，并且作为膳食补充剂在商业上是可获得的。
我们首次探索了积雪草（CA）提取物在改善大鼠骨骼肌中与葡萄糖和糖原代谢相关的关键酶的 T2DM 诱导变化方面的可能功效。
糖尿病大鼠每天口服给予载体、CA（500 和 1000mg/kg）或二甲双胍（300mg/kg），持续 14 天。通过分光光度法测定己糖激酶（HK）、磷酸果糖激酶（PFK）和果糖 1,6-二磷酸酶（FBPase）的骨骼肌活性，而通过放射化学法测定糖原合酶（GS）和糖原磷酸化酶（GP）的骨骼肌活性。还对骨骼肌进行了组织学检查。
与非糖尿病大鼠相比，诱导 T2DM 的大鼠的 HK（25%）、PFK（88%）和 GS（38%）活性降低。用 CA500 治疗糖尿病大鼠可使 PFK（7 倍）和 FBPase（23%）的活性增加。此外，用 CA1000 治疗糖尿病大鼠还可使 GS（27%）和 GP（50%）的活性增加，而用 CA500 治疗的糖尿病大鼠的这些参数变化不大。这些作用可能导致与非治疗糖尿病对照大鼠相比，CA 治疗大鼠的血糖水平降低和骨骼肌糖原含量升高。此外，与未经治疗的糖尿病对照大鼠相比，CA 治疗大鼠的骨骼肌纤维形态损伤减少。
我们的发现强烈表明，CA 的抗糖尿病作用部分针对肌肉葡萄糖和糖原代谢，因此支持其民间医学用途作为抗糖尿病药物。
