Liu XM, Yuan SQ, Ning Y, Nie SJ, Wang XQ, Jia HY, Zheng XL. Therapeutic effects of Lingguizhugan decoction in a rat model of high-fat diet-induced insulin resistance. World J Diabetes 2024; 15(6): 1291-1298 [DOI: 10.4239/wjd.v15.i6.1291]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Xiu-Li Zheng, Department of Basic Medicine, School of Basic Medicine Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 1166 Liutai Avenue, Wenjiang District, Chengdu 611137, Sichuan Province, China. zhengxl023@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Article-Type of This Article
Basic Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Xiao-Ming Liu, Shi-Qing Yuan, Ying Ning, Shi-Jia Nie, Xu-Qiong Wang, Xiu-Li Zheng, Department of Basic Medicine, School of Basic Medicine Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 611137, Sichuan Province, China
Hong-Yi Jia, Department of Clinical Medicine, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610072, Sichuan Province, China
Author contributions: Liu XM contributed to the formal analysis and writing of the original draft; Ning Y provided resources and conceptualization; Nie SJ was responsible for the data collection; Wang XQ conducted the investigation; Jia HY also contributed to the investigation; Zheng XL was involved in the writing, review, and editing process; Yuan SQ supervised the project and acquired funding.
Supported bythe Preresearch Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. ZRYY1906; the Applied Basic Research Project of the Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province, No. 2021YJ0154; the Talent Research Promotion Plan of Xinglin Scholars of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. QNXZ2019035; and the Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine ‘Xinglin Scholars' subject talent research promotion Program (young scholars), No. QNXZ2019037.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Approval No. 2024020).
Conflict-of-interest statement: Dr. Zhen has nothing to disclose.
Data sharing statement: The data are available on reasonable request.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE Guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE Guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiu-Li Zheng, Department of Basic Medicine, School of Basic Medicine Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 1166 Liutai Avenue, Wenjiang District, Chengdu 611137, Sichuan Province, China. zhengxl023@163.com
Received: November 28, 2023 Revised: February 6, 2024 Accepted: March 29, 2024 Published online: June 15, 2024 Processing time: 196 Days and 0.8 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Lingguizhugan (LGZG) decoction is a widely used classic Chinese medicine formula that was recently shown to improve high-fat diet (HFD)-induced insulin resistance (IR) in animal studies.
AIM
To assess the therapeutic effect of LGZG decoction on HFD-induced IR and explore the potential underlying mechanism.
METHODS
To establish an IR rat model, a 12-wk HFD was administered, followed by a 4-wk treatment with LGZG. The determination of IR status was achieved through the use of biochemical tests and oral glucose tolerance tests. Using a targeted meta-bolomics platform to analyze changes in serum metabolites, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to assess the gene expression of the ribosomal protein S6 kinase beta 1 (S6K1).
RESULTS
In IR rats, LGZG decreased body weight and indices of hepatic steatosis. It effectively controlled blood glucose and food intake while protecting islet cells. Metabolite analysis revealed significant differences between the HFD and HFD-LGZG groups. LGZG intervention reduced branched-chain amino acid levels. Levels of IR-related metabolites such as tryptophan, alanine, taurine, and asparagine decreased significantly. IR may be linked to amino acids due to the contemporaneous increase in S6K1 expression, as shown by qRT-PCR.
CONCLUSIONS
Our study strongly suggests that LGZG decoction reduces HFD-induced IR. LGZG may activate S6K1 via metabolic pathways. These findings lay the groundwork for the potential of LGZG as an IR treatment.
Core Tip: This research examines the therapeutic properties of Lingguizhugan (LGZG) decoction, specifically focusing on its potential impact on insulin resistance (IR) and its associated mechanisms. The findings indicate that the LGZG decoction effectively controls the S6 kinase beta 1 metabolic pathway, enhancing IR, weight management, glucose tolerance, and liver steatosis. The findings of this study indicate that LGZG decoction can be used as a medical treatment for the control of IR. These results offer valuable clinical insights and propose avenues for future pharmacological investigations.
