1Cardiovascular Centre, Kaohsiung Veterans
General Hospital, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 2Department of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy
and Health Care, Tajen University, Pingtung County,
Taiwan 3Pharmacological department of herbal
medicine, and Department of Psychosomatic Internal
Medicine, Graduate School of Medical and Dental
Sciences, Kagoshima university Kagoshima, Japan 4Department of Nursing, Tzu Chi University of
Science and Technology, Hualien City, Taiwan 5Department of Medical Research, Chi-Mei
Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan
*Corresponding author. E-mail: jtcheng5503@gmail.com or
ts00@ems.tcust.edu.tw. Tel: +886-6-2517864 or
+886-3-8572158.
Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a social problem worldwide.
It has even been termed syndrome X and is considered
prediabetes due to insulin resistance (IR). Management
and/or prevention of MetS has become an important
subject in public health. In addition to nutritional
control and exercise, medicinal plants are recommended
as an alternative method. In the present study, a
commercial herbal mixture, containing ginseng, Du-Zhong
(Eucommia leaf), Shu Di Huang (Chinese foxglove
root), and other ingredient, was investigated using rats
with MetS induced by fructose-rich chow. Acute treatment
with a bolus intake of the herbal mixture may inhibit
postprandial hyperglycemia in normal rats. This result
seems to be consistent with the effect of metformin
depending on the reduction in glucose absorption in the
intestine. However, effective alleviation of metabolic
disorders was only produced in the animal model
receiving the repeated daily intake of herbal mixture
for two weeks but was not observed in the animal model
receiving acute treatment. The herbal mixture
dose-dependently ameliorated the insulin sensitivity,
which was evaluated in rats with MetS using HOMA-IR and
insulin tolerance tests (ITTs). Lower mRNA levels of
insulin receptor and its coupled signaling molecule
IRS-1 in rats with MetS were also reversed by the herbal
mixture. Additionally, the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT)
performed in rats with MetS supported the effectiveness
of the herbal mixture in terms of both the changes in
the shape of the glucose curve and the calculated area
under the curve (AUC). Notably, the calculated
incremental AUC (iAUC) was markedly modified in samples
receiving repeated treatment, probably due to a marked
reduction in the fasting blood glucose. Therefore, it
does not seem suitable to apply the iAUC in case of
chronic treatment. This is consistent with the criticism
for overuse of the iAUC. Collectively, the present study
suggested that an herbal mixture containing ginseng,
Du-Zhong (Eucommia leaf), Shu Di Huang (Chinese
foxglove root) and other ingredient is effective in
ameliorating insulin sensitivity in the rats with MetS.
Key words: Metabolic syndrome, herbal mixture,
insulin sensitivity, Ginseng, Du-Zhong (Eucommia
leaf), Shu Di Huang (Chinese Foxglove Root), rats.
This is an open access article
published under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Cite this article as: Kuo FY, Cheng KC, Niu
CS, Li Y, Cheng JT, Niu HS (2021). An herbal mixture containing ginseng,
Eucommia leaf, and Chinese foxglove root may ameliorate insulin sensitivity
in rats with metabolic syndrome. Acad. J. Med. Plants. 9(5): 055-065.
