Panax ginseng improves glucose metabolism in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats through 5' adenosine monophosphate kinase up-regulation

Aaser Abdelazim; Safaa Khater; Haytham Ali; Shimaa Shalaby; Mohamed Afifi; Salina Saddick; Ali Alkaladi; Omar A Almaghrabi

doi:10.1016/j.sjbs.2018.06.001

Panax ginseng improves glucose metabolism in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats through 5' adenosine monophosphate kinase up-regulation

Saudi J Biol Sci. 2019 Nov;26(7):1436-1441. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2018.06.001. Epub 2018 Jun 5.

Authors

Aaser Abdelazim^{1

2}, Safaa Khater¹, Haytham Ali^{1

3}, Shimaa Shalaby⁴, Mohamed Afifi^{1

3

5}, Salina Saddick⁶, Ali Alkaladi³, Omar A Almaghrabi³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Vet. Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.
² Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, University of Bisha, Bisha, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Physiology, Faculty of Vet. Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.
⁵ University of Jeddah Center for Scientific and Medical Research, University of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80203, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

5' AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), insulin receptors and transporters are distorted in diabetes mellitus. In this study, the effect of Panax ginseng was assessed on glucose manipulating enzymes activities and gene expression of AMPK, IRA and GLUT2 in streptozotocin-induced diabetic male rats. Forty male albino rats were randomly divided to four groups 10 rats of each, group I, normal control group (received saline orally); group II, normal rats received 200 mg/kg of Panax ginseng orally; group III, Streptozotocin (STZ) -induced diabetic rats and group IV, STZ-induced diabetic rats received 200 mg/kg of Panax ginseng orally. The duration of experiment was 30 days. Results showed the ability of Panax ginseng to induce a significant decrease in the blood glucose and increase in the serum insulin levels, hepatic glucokinase (GK), and glycogen synthase (GS) activities with a modulation of lipid profile besides high expression levels of AMPK, insulin receptor A (IRA), glucose transporting protein-2 (GLUT-2) in liver of diabetic rats. In conclusion, the obtained results point to the ability of Panax ginseng to improve the glucose metabolism in diabetic models.

Keywords: AMPK; Diabetes mellitus; GLUT2; Ginseng; Insulin.