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Feeding of aged garlic extract improves glucose intolerance and fatty liver in spontaneous diabetic mice
Author(s) -
Mizuno Ikuko,
Maeda Toshio,
Ide Nagatoshi,
Oka Takami
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.24.1_supplement.722.5
Subject(s) - medicine , endocrinology , diabetes mellitus , glut2 , triglyceride , steatosis , fatty liver , insulin , type 2 diabetes , chemistry , glucose transporter , disease , cholesterol
Garlic, a common herb, is widely used as medicinal plant, but its usefulness in the treatment of diabetes has not been established. Aged garlic extract (AGE) that contains unique compounds such as S‐allyl cysteine were produced as a result of aging processes. We studied the effect of AGE using two models of spontaneous diabetic animals, TSOD and ddY‐H, developed by Dr. W. Suzuki (Tsumura & Co., Japan) and Dr. T. Maeda (Univ. of Shizuoka, Japan), respectively. These mice showed various phenotypes of type 2 diabetes, including high blood glucose, glucose intolerance, high circulating level of insulin and fatty liver. TSOD mice fed diet containing 4% (w/w) AGE for 6 months, had a lower level of blood glucose compared to control, although their body weight was still high and AGE treatment had no adverse effects. In addition, glucose intolerance was ameliorated in AGE‐fed TSOD mice. Furthermore, triglyceride accumulation in the liver of these mice was reduced compared to that in control. Moreover, the level of SREBP1c, PPAR‐gamma and GLUT2 mRNAs was lower in the liver of AGE‐fed TSOD mice. Similar results were obtained by experiments using another diabetic model, ddY‐H mice. In conclusion, our data indicated that AGE prevents occurrence of glucose intolerance and fatty liver in diabetic mice, suggesting that AGE is useful for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes.