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World J Diabetes. Mar 15, 2026; 17(3): 113249
Published online Mar 15, 2026. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v17.i3.113249
Published online Mar 15, 2026. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v17.i3.113249
Amomum villosum extract alleviates diabetic neuropathy via phosphoinositide 3-kinase/AKT-mediated antioxidative and anti-apoptotic effects
Dong-Quan Kou, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Pharmacology for Natural Medicines, Kunming Medical University, Kunming 650500, Yunnan Province, China
Dong-Quan Kou, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Chong Gang General Hospital, Chongqing 400080, China
Dong-Quan Kou, Ming-Jie Liu, Xiao-Lan Gao, Fu-Rong Guo, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Chongqing Public Health Medical Center, Chongqing 400036, China
Author contributions: Kou DQ conceived and designed the study, supervised the research, acquired funding, and critically revised the manuscript; Liu MJ performed the experiments, analyzed the data, created visualizations, and wrote the original draft; Gao XL contributed to the methodology development, conducted experimental validation, and provided research resources; Guo FR performed the statistical analyses, validated the results, and participated in manuscript revision; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All animal experiments were conducted in accordance with the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. The protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Chongqing Public Health Medical Center.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: All procedures and results in this study were reported in accordance with the ARRIVE guidelines for animal research.
Data sharing statement: The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Corresponding author: Dong-Quan Kou, PhD, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Pharmacology for Natural Medicines, Kunming Medical University, No. 191 Renmin West Road, Xishan District, Kunming 650500, Yunnan Province, China. rmkdquan@163.com
Received: August 25, 2025
Revised: November 12, 2025
Accepted: January 23, 2026
Published online: March 15, 2026
Processing time: 200 Days and 2.1 Hours
Revised: November 12, 2025
Accepted: January 23, 2026
Published online: March 15, 2026
Processing time: 200 Days and 2.1 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) lacks effective therapies beyond symptomatic relief. This study demonstrates that the aqueous extract of Amomum villosum Lour. (AVL) significantly alleviates DPN in rats by activating the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT signaling pathway. AVL reduced oxidative stress, inflammation, and neuronal apoptosis in dorsal root ganglion tissues, thereby improving pain thresholds. Inhibition of PI3K/AKT abrogated these protective effects. These findings highlight AVL as a promising natural medicine with multi-targeted neuroprotective properties and provide mechanistic evidence for its potential application in DPN treatment.