Hypoglycaemic effect of capsaicinoids via elevation of insulin level and inhibition of glucose absorption in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

Abstract

This study investigated the hypoglycemic effect and mechanism of capsaicinoids in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Diabetic rats were orally treated with 3, 6, and 9 mg/kg·bw of capsaicinoids daily for 28 days. Capsaicinoids treatment significantly increased the body weight, serum insulin level, glycogen content, and fecal sugar excretion of diabetic rats. More importantly, significant upregulation of liver X receptor, pancreatic duodenal homeobox-1, glucose-6-phosphatase, glucokinase and transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 expression was observed in the liver and pancreas of diabetic rats. Meanwhile, the protein levels of sodium/glucose cotransporter 1, glucose transport protein 2, and glucose transport protein 5 were significantly down-regulated in the ileum. Results showed that the hypoglycemic mechanism of capsaicinoids may be associated with these changes occurred in different gene and protein expression, and suggested that capsaicinoids significantly reduced the blood glucose level via elevation of the insulin level and inhibition of glucose absorption in the ileum.

Keywords

• Capsaicinoids
• Hypoglycemic effect
• Glycometabolism