Aspalathin, a C-glucosyldihydrochalcone from rooibos improves the hypoglycemic potential of metformin in type 2 diabetic (db/db) mice
Date
2018-07-25
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Institute of Physiology, The Czech Academy of Sciences
Abstract
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Metformin is the first line therapy of type 2 diabetics, but
continued reduction of their life expectancy warrants further
investigation into alternative treatment strategies. This study
reports on the combinational use of metformin with aspalathin,
a C-glucosyl dihydrochalcone with known glucose lowering and
antioxidant properties, as an effective hypoglycemic therapy in
a type 2 diabetic (db/db) mouse model. When tested as
a monotherapy, a low dose of aspalathin (13 mg/kg) showed no
effect, while a high dose (130 mg/kg) has already displayed
a better potential than metformin in protecting against diabetes
associated symptoms in db/db mice. Thus, it remains of interest
to determine whether this dihydrochalcone can improve the
efficacy of metformin. The results showed that this combination
therapy was more effective than the use of metformin as
a monotherapy in ameliorating diabetes associated symptoms,
including abnormal raised fasting plasma glucose levels, impaired
glucose tolerance, as well as excessively increased body weights
and fat content. The treated mice also had reduced food and
water consumption when compared to untreated controls, with
a pronounced effect evident in the last week of treatment.
Therefore, this study supports further investigations into the
ameliorative effect of combination therapy of metformin and
aspalathin against diabetes associated symptoms.
Description
CITATION: Dludla, P. V. et al. 2018. Aspalathin, a C-glucosyldihydrochalcone from rooibos improves the hypoglycemic potential of metformin in type 2 diabetic (db/db) mice. Physiological Research, 67: 813-818, doi:10.33549/physiolres.933891.
The original publication is available at https://www.biomed.cas.cz/physiolres
The original publication is available at https://www.biomed.cas.cz/physiolres
Keywords
Aspalathin, Metformin, Combination drug therapy, Diabetes mellitus
Citation
Dludla, P. V. et al. 2018. Aspalathin, a C-glucosyldihydrochalcone from rooibos improves the hypoglycemic potential of metformin in type 2 diabetic (db/db) mice. Physiological Research, 67: 813-818, doi:10.33549/physiolres.933891.