Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Kyungpook National University, 1370 San-Kyuk Dong Puk-Ku, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea.
Center for Food and Nutritional Genomics Research, Kyungpook National University, 1370 San-Kyuk Dong Puk-Ku, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Jan 4;24(2):936. doi: 10.3390/ijms24020936.
Metformin, an antidiabetic drug, and Fischer (GU), an oriental medicinal herb, have been reported to exert anti-obesity effects. This study investigated the synergistic action of metformin and GU in improving diet-induced obesity. Mice were fed a normal diet, a high-fat diet (HFD), or HFD + 0.015% GU water extract for 8 weeks. The HFD and GU groups were then randomly divided into two groups and fed the following diets for the next 8 weeks: HFD with 50 mg/kg metformin (HFDM) and GU with 50 mg/kg metformin (GUM). GUM prevented hepatic steatosis and adiposity by suppressing expression of mRNAs and enzyme activities related to lipogenesis in the liver and upregulating the expression of adipocyte mRNAs associated with fatty acid oxidation and lipolysis, and as a result, improved dyslipidemia. Moreover, GUM improved glucose homeostasis by inducing glucose uptake in tissues and upregulating mRNA expressions associated with glycolysis in the liver and muscle through AMP-activated protein kinase activation. GUM also improved inflammation by increasing antioxidant activity in the liver and erythrocytes and decreasing inflammatory cytokine productions. Here, we demonstrate that GU and metformin exert synergistic action in the prevention of obesity and its complications.
二甲双胍是一种抗糖尿病药物，而葛根是一种东方草药，据报道它们具有抗肥胖作用。本研究探讨了二甲双胍和葛根协同作用改善饮食诱导肥胖的效果。将小鼠喂食正常饮食、高脂肪饮食（HFD）或 HFD+0.015%葛根水提取物 8 周。然后，HFD 和 GU 组随机分为两组，并在接下来的 8 周内喂食以下饮食：HFD+50mg/kg 二甲双胍（HFDM）和 GU+50mg/kg 二甲双胍（GUM）。GUM 通过抑制肝脏中与脂肪生成相关的 mRNA 和酶活性以及上调与脂肪酸氧化和脂肪分解相关的脂肪细胞 mRNA 的表达，抑制肝脂肪变性和肥胖，从而改善血脂异常。此外，GUM 通过激活 AMP 激活蛋白激酶，诱导组织摄取葡萄糖并上调肝脏和肌肉中与糖酵解相关的 mRNA 表达，改善葡萄糖稳态。GUM 还通过增加肝脏和红细胞中的抗氧化活性以及减少炎症细胞因子的产生来改善炎症。在这里，我们证明了葛根和二甲双胍在预防肥胖及其并发症方面具有协同作用。
