Abstrait

Radix Astragali and Notoginseng saponins improve glucose and fatty acid metabolism through upregulated adiponectin and it downstream signaling pathway.

Shih-Chien Huang, Shih-Chuan Liu, Ching-Pin Lin, Chien-Chun Li, Yi-Ching Li, Shu-Fen Huang, Yi-Chu Tang, Kamesh Venkatakrishnan,You-Cheng Shen*

This study was aimed to evaluate the effects of saponins rich Radix Astragali and Radix Notoginseng (ANS) on adiponectin mRNA and its downstream signaling proteins in 3T3-L1 adipocytes as well as their effects on glucose and fat metabolism in rat, and obese subjects. 3T3- L1 adipocytes were used to determine the levels of adiponectin mRNA and protein expression of AMPK, p-AMPK, pACC, and GLUT4. In the animal studies, 16 rats were orally administered with either placebo or ANS (0.1 mg/kg; orally). A clinical trial was conducted on healthy obese subjects, who were divided into placebo and ANS groups and consumed either placebo or ANS (5 capsules/day). ANS increased adiponectin mRNA by 103% and 248% in normal and palmitate- induced (IR) 3T3-L1 adipocytes and the protein expressions of AMPK, p-AMPK, pACC, and GLUT 4, and glucose uptake were significantly improved (p<0.01). ANS treated rats showed a significant decrease (p<0.05) in the levels of blood glucose (11%) and serum insulin (38%) than control rats. In the human trial, ANS increased adiponectin levels by 29.51% and reduced body weight, BMI, body fat, TG, and LDL-c in ANS treated subjects compared to the placebo group. Overall, ANS could up-regulate adiponectin mRNA, AMPK, pAMPK, pACC, and GLUT4 in adipocytes as well as improve glucose regulation and fatty acid oxidation in adipocytes, rats, and healthy obese human subjects. Thus effective in mitigating glucose and fatty acid dysfunction and its related metabolic syndrome.