• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.969-979
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• 2021

Type 2 diabetes is a serious chronic metabolic disease, and the goal of diabetes treatment is to keep blood glucose at a normal level and prevent complications from diabetes. Hyperglycemia is a key pathologic feature of type 2 diabetes that mainly results from insulin resistance and pancreatic β-cell dysfunction. Chronic exposure of β-cells to elevated glucose concentrations induces glucotoxicity. In this study, we examined whether an 80% ethanol extract of Oxya chinensis sinuosa Mishchenko (OEE) protected INS-1 pancreatic β-cells against glucotoxicity-induced apoptosis and oxidative stress. Pretreatment with a high concentration of glucose (high glucose = 30 mM) induced glucotoxicity and apoptosis of INS-1 pancreatic β cells. Treatment with OEE significantly increased cell viability. Treatment with 0.01-0.20 mg/ml OEE dose dependently decreased intracellular reactive oxygen species, lipid peroxidation, and nitric oxide levels and increased insulin secretion in high glucose-pretreated INS-1 β cells. OEE also significantly increased the activities of antioxidant enzymes in response to high-glucose-induced oxidative stress. Moreover, OEE treatment significantly reduced the expressions of pro-apoptotic proteins, including Bax, cytochrome C, caspase-3, and caspase-9, and increased anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 expression. Apoptotic cells were identified using Annexin-V/propidium iodide staining, which revealed that treatment with OEE significantly reduced high-glucose-induced apoptosis. These findings implicate OEE as a valuable functional food in protecting pancreatic β-cells against glucotoxicity-induced apoptosis and oxidative stress.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.1054-1062
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• 2020

This study was designed to investigate whether extracts from Oxya chinensis sinuosa Mistshenk (an edible insect considered a grasshopper) could inhibit the activity of carbohydrate digestive enzymes and alleviate postprandial hyperglycemia in diabetic mice. Oxya chinensis sinuosa Mistshenk was extracted with 80% ethanol (OEE) or water (OWE) and then concentrated. The carbohydrate digestive enzyme-inhibiting activity of the resulting extracts was evaluated by examining α-glucosidase and α-amylase. The IC50 values of OEE against α-glucosidase and α-amylase were 0.229 mg/ml and 0.106 mg/ml, respectively. This result indicated that OEE has stronger inhibitory effects than OWE and positive control. The blood glucose levels of the diabetic control mice increased after one meal. However, when OEE (300 mg/kg) was added to starch, this increase in postprandial blood glucose levels was significantly suppressed. The area under the curve also significantly decreased following the administration of OEE, which exhibited no cytotoxicity. These results indicate that OEE is more efficacious than OWE and may be used as a carbohydrate digestive enzyme inhibitor, delay carbohydrate digestion and glucose absorption, and thus alleviate postprandial hyperglycemia caused by dietary carbohydrates.