Previous study revealed that
chromium malate improved the regulation of fasting
blood glucose and
insulin resistance in type 2 diabetic rats. In this study, the effect of
chromium malate on anti-high-
glucose and improve
insulin resistance activities in L6 skeletal muscle cells with
insulin resistance and its acting mechanism were investigated.
Chromium malate showed direct anti-high-
glucose activity in vitro. The
glucose levels had a significant downward trend compared to
chromium trichloride. Compared with model group,
chromium malate could significantly promote the secretion levels of GLUT-4, Akt, Irs-1, PPARγ, PI3K and p38-MAPK, promote AMPKβ1 phosphorylation, and reduced the level of p-Irs-1 in L6 cells with
insulin resistance. And the relate
mRNA expression of
chromium malate was significantly increased.
Chromium malate is more effective at improving the related
proteins and
mRNA expression than those of
chromium trichloride and
chromium picolinate. Pretreatment with the specific p38MAPK inhibitor completely inhibited the GLUT-4 and Irs-1
proteins and
mRNA expression induced by the
chromium malate when compared with model group, but GLUT-4 and Irs-1
proteins and
mRNA expression was partially inhibited after inhibiting p38MAPK/PI3K expression. The results suggested that
chromium malate had a beneficial influence on the improvement of controlling
glucose levels and
insulin resistance in L6 cells with
insulin resistance by regulating
proteins production and genes expression in
glucose uptake and
insulin sensitivity signaling pathways. The signaling pathways of
glucose uptake and
insulin sensitivity. This study shown that
chromium malate could significant increase in the production levels of GLUT-4, p-AMPKβ1, Akt, Irs-1, PPARγ, PI3K and p38-MAPK
proteins and
mRNA in L6 cells with
insulin resistant. Pretreatment with the specific p38MAPK inhibitor completely inhibited the GLUT-4 and Irs-1
proteins and
mRNA expression induced by the
chromium malate compared to model group, but the
proteins and
mRNA were partially inhibited after inhibiting p38MAPK/PI3K. Therefore,
chromium malate had beneficial influence on improvement of controlling
glucose levels and
insulin resistant in L6 cells by regulating
proteins production and genes expression in
glucose uptake and
insulin sensitivity signaling pathways. The key
proteins of
glucose uptake and
insulin sensitivity signaling pathways were p38MAPK, PI3K and PPARγ.