Sea buckthorn oil extract helps alleviate type 2 diabetes insulin resistance: Study
The sea buckthorn fruit oil (SBFO) effect was evaluated through an in vitro experiment using HepG2 human cell culture, and an in vivo study involving rats induced with type 2 diabetes (T2DM), researchers from the Tianjin University of Science and Technology in China, revealed.
“The SBFO extract played a positive role in alleviating T2DM…and could be used for the future development of functional food and dietary supplements,” they wrote in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
For the in vitro experiment, HepG2 cells were cultured and treated with insulin to stimulate T2DM activity for 36 hours.
The cultured cells were divided into six batches: Normal (no insulin), control (insulin only), and the four SBFO plus insulin dosage groups S1-50 μM; S2-100 μM; S3-200 μM; and S4-400μM.
The sea buckthorn oil extract was allowed to react with the insulin-treated cells for 24 hours.
In vivo rat model
For the in vivo rat model, seven groups of rats were created. The normal group was fed normal chow diet throughout the study.
The rest of the groups were fed a high-fat diet for four weeks, and afterwards injected with Streptozotocin to induce T2DM. They were then given SBFO at various levels or the conventional drug rosiglitazone as a positive control.
In the in vitro experiments, researchers found the level of improvement depended on the amount of SBFO administered into the cells.
Meanwhile, in the in vivo rat study, the oil extract was also found to improve insulin resistance.
“After four weeks of treatment, insulin levels were measured and were found to have decreased in the SBFO extract-treated groups compared with that of the control group. This result indicated that SBFO extract treatment could alleviate insulin resistance in rats,” the study revealed.
The researchers also noted that the SBFO and rosiglitazone groups had similar test results.
“In these experiments, it was found that the T2DM outcomes of the rats in the SBFO extract-treated groups presented similar tendencies to those of the rats in the positive control group, suggesting that the appropriate dosage of the SBFO extract might have ameliorative effects similar to those of [the conventional drug] rosiglitazone,” they said.
The T2DM rats also acquired liver injury, but the livers from rats given the highest doses of SBFO showed more improvements.
“These results demonstrated the positive effects of the SBFO extract on relieving hyperglycemia and liver injury in T2DM rats,” the researchers concluded.
Source: Journal of Agricultural Food and Chemistry
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.6b04682
“Sea buckthorn fruit oil extract alleviates insulin resistance through the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in type 2 diabetes mellitus cells and rats”
Authors: Shan Gao, Qing Guo et al.
