Department of Bio and Fermentation Convergence Technology, Kookmin University, Seoul 02707, Korea.
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Mol Cells. 2021 Feb 28;44(2):68-78. doi: 10.14348/molcells.2021.2245.
Secondary metabolites enable plants to protect themselves from herbivorous insects. Among these, cucurbitacin B (cuc-B) is a bitter-tasting compound with promising pharmacological potential. Dietary exposure to cuc-B lowered the hemolymph glucose levels of fed with a high carbohydrate diet, which is homologous to high blood glucose in humans, and its effect was comparable to that of metformin, a well-known glucose-lowering drug. Furthermore, cuc-B reduced tissue sugar levels and glycogen levels, as well as triacylglycerol levels. Our results thus highlight the potential applicability of this compound to treat chronic metabolic diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Additionally, we analyzed sleep quality and taste-associative memory enhancement after cuc-B and metformin treatment. Both supplements increased nighttime bout length and metformin increased memory consolidation. Therefore, discarded shell of could be processed into health supplements.
次生代谢产物使植物能够免受草食性昆虫的侵害。其中，葫芦素 B（cuc-B）是一种具有潜在药理学前景的苦味化合物。饮食中接触 cuc-B 会降低喂食高碳水化合物饮食的昆虫的血淋巴葡萄糖水平，这与人类的高血糖类似，其效果可与二甲双胍相媲美，二甲双胍是一种著名的降血糖药物。此外，cuc-B 还降低了组织中的糖和糖原水平以及三酰基甘油水平。因此，我们的研究结果突出了这种化合物在治疗糖尿病和肥胖症等慢性代谢性疾病方面的潜在应用价值。此外，我们还分析了 cuc-B 和二甲双胍处理后的睡眠质量和味觉联想记忆增强作用。两种补充剂都增加了夜间发作的时间，而二甲双胍则增强了记忆巩固。因此，的废弃外壳可以加工成保健品。
