Published online Jun 15, 2023. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v14.i6.846
Peer-review started: December 16, 2022
First decision: February 20, 2023
Revised: March 21, 2023
Accepted: April 17, 2023
Article in press: April 17, 2023
Published online: June 15, 2023
Processing time: 181 Days and 7 Hours
Lomatogonium rotatum (LR) is traditionally used in Mongolian folk medicine as a hypoglycemic agent, but its evidence-based pharmacological effects and me-chanisms of action have not been fully elucidated.
To emphasize the hypoglycemic action mechanism of LR in a type 2 diabetic rat model and examine potential biomarkers to obtain mechanistic understanding regarding serum metabolite modifications.
A high-fat, high-sugar diet and streptozotocin injection-induced type 2 diabetic rat model was established. The chemical composition of the LR was identified by high performance liquid chromatography. LR extract administrated as oral gavage at 0.5 g/kg, 2.5 g/kg, and 5 g/kg for 4 wk. Anti-diabetic effects of LR extract were evaluated based on histopathological examination as well as the measurement of blood glucose, insulin, glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), and lipid levels. Serum metabolites were analyzed using an untargeted metabolomics approach.
According to a chemical analysis, swertiamarin, sweroside, hesperetin, coumarin, 1.7-dihydroxy-3,8-dimethoxyl xanthone, and 1-hydroxy-2,3,5 trimethoxanone are the principal active ingredients in LR. An anti-diabetic experiment revealed that the LR treatment significantly increased plasma insulin and GLP-1 levels while effectively lowering blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and oral glucose tolerance test compared to the model group. Furthermore, untargeted metabolomic analysis of serum samples detected 236 metabolites, among which 86 were differentially expressed between the model and the LR group. It was also found that LR considerably altered the levels of metabolites such as vitamin B6, mevalonate-5P, D-proline, L-lysine, and taurine, which are involved in the regulation of the vitamin B6 metabolic pathway, selenium amino acid metabolic pathway, pyrimidine metabolic pathway, and arginine and proline metabolic pathways.
These findings indicated that LR may have a hypoglycemic impact and that its role may be related to changes in the serum metabolites and to facilitate the release of insulin and GLP-1, which lower blood glucose and lipid profiles.
Core Tip:Lomatogonium rotatum (LR) is traditionally used in Mongolian folk medicine as a hypoglycemic agent. Its evidence-based pharmacological effects and mechanisms of action have not been elucidated. An anti-diabetic experiment in rats revealed that LR treatment increased insulin and glucagon-like peptide 1 levels and decreased blood sugar, total cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and oral glucose tolerance test. These findings indicated that LR may have a hypoglycemic impact and that its role may be related to changes in the serum metabolites as well as to facilitating the release of insulin and glucagon-like peptide 1, which lower blood glucose and lipid profiles.