Preventative effect of Zingiber officinale on insulin resistance in a high-fat high-carbohydrate diet-fed rat model and its mechanism of action.

Abstract

Insulin resistance is a core component of metabolic syndrome and usually precedes the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus. We have examined the preventative effect of an ethanol extract of ginger (Zingiber officinale, Zingiberaceae) on insulin resistance in a high-fat high-carbohydrate (HFHC) diet-fed rat model of metabolic syndrome. The HFHC control rats displayed severe insulin resistance, whilst rats treated with ginger extract (200 mg/kg) during HFHC diet feeding showed a significant improvement of insulin sensitivity using the homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) after 10 weeks (p < 0.01). An in vitro mechanistic study showed that (S)-[6]-gingerol, the major pungent phenolic principle in ginger, dose-dependently (from 50 to 150 μM) increased AMPK α-subunit phosphorylation in L6 skeletal muscle cells. This was accompanied by a time-dependent marked increment of PGC-1α mRNA expression and mitochondrial content in L6 skeletal muscle cells. These results suggest that the protection from HFHC diet-induced insulin resistance by ginger is likely associated with the increased capacity of energy metabolism by its major active component (S)-[6]-gingerol.

• Authors: Yiming Li, Van H Tran, Bhavani P Kota, Srinivas Nammi, Colin C Duke, Basil D Roufogalis
• Journal: Basic & clinical pharmacology & toxicology (Basic Clin Pharmacol Toxicol) Vol. 115 Issue 2 Pg. 209-15 (Aug 2014) ISSN: 1742-7843 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 24428842 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: © 2014 Nordic Association for the Publication of BCPT (former Nordic Pharmacological Society).

Chemical References

• Catechols
• Dietary Carbohydrates
• Fatty Alcohols
• Plant Extracts
• gingerol

Topics

• Animals
• Catechols (administration & dosage, isolation & purification, pharmacology)
• Diet, High-Fat
• Dietary Carbohydrates (administration & dosage)
• Disease Models, Animal
• Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
• Energy Metabolism (drug effects)
• Fatty Alcohols (administration & dosage, isolation & purification, pharmacology)
• Ginger (chemistry)
• Insulin Resistance
• Male
• Metabolic Syndrome (prevention & control)
• Mitochondria (drug effects, metabolism)
• Muscle, Skeletal (drug effects, metabolism)
• Plant Extracts (administration & dosage, chemistry, pharmacology)
• Rats
• Rats, Sprague-Dawley