Berberine alleviates the cerebrovascular contractility in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats through modulation of intracellular Ca2+ handling in smooth muscle cells

摘要

BackgroundVascular dysfunction is a distinctive phenotype in diabetes mellitus. Current treatments mostly focus on the tight glycemic control and few of these treatments have been designed to directly recover the vascular dysfunction in diabetes. As a classical natural medicine, berberine has been explored as a possible therapy for DM. In addition, it is reported that berberine has an extra-protective effect in diabetic vascular dysfunction. However, little is known whether the berberine treatment could ameliorate the smooth muscle contractility independent of a functional endothelium under hyperglycemia. Furthermore, it remains unknown whether berberine affects the arterial contractility by regulating the intracellular Ca²⁺ handling in vascular smooth cells (VSMCs) under hyperglycemia.