Aspalathin, a C-glucosyldihydrochalcone from rooibos improves the hypoglycemic potential of metformin in type 2 diabetic (db/db) mice.

摘要

Metformin is the first line therapy of type 2 diabetics, butcontinued reduction of their life expectancy warrants furtherinvestigation into alternative treatment strategies. This studyreports on the combinational use of metformin with aspalathin,a C-glucosyl dihydrochalcone with known glucose lowering andantioxidant properties, as an effective hypoglycemic therapy ina type 2 diabetic (db/db) mouse model. When tested asa monotherapy, a low dose of aspalathin (13 mg/kg) showed noeffect, while a high dose (130 mg/kg) has already displayeda better potential than metformin in protecting against diabetesassociated symptoms in db/db mice. Thus, it remains of interestto determine whether this dihydrochalcone can improve theefficacy of metformin. The results showed that this combinationtherapy was more effective than the use of metformin asa monotherapy in ameliorating diabetes associated symptoms,including abnormal raised fasting plasma glucose levels, impairedglucose tolerance, as well as excessively increased body weightsand fat content. The treated mice also had reduced food andwater consumption when compared to untreated controls, witha pronounced effect evident in the last week of treatment.Therefore, this study supports further investigations into theameliorative effect of combination therapy of metformin andaspalathin against diabetes associated symptoms.