The aim of this study was to verify the glycaemia-lowering activity of L-arabinose. The experiment was conducted on 3 individual days, each separated by a week. At the beginning of each week rats were subjected to an oral glucose, sucrose or starch tolerance test. Five minutes prior to each test rats were gavaged with water (a control), an aqueous solution of acarbose (a positive control) and L-arabinose. There was no effect of L-arabinose on glycaemia in the glucose tolerance test, whereas it reduced postprandial glycaemia after 15 min of the sucrose tolerance test. In the starch tolerance test, the glycaemia after L-arabinose ingestion was signifi cantly decreased both at time intervals and in total. Inhibition of enzyme activity involved in starch digestion (amylase, maltase) may be suggested as the most probable mechanism responsible for the observed effects.Brought to you by | MIT Libraries Authenticated Download Date | 5/12/18 11:54 AM
This study investigated the efficacy of a plant-derived dietary supplement with respect to decreasing postprandial glucose and insulin peaks after the intake of real-world meals. Two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over experiments were conducted on healthy subjects who received a supplement containing extracts of white mulberry, white bean, and green coffee or one containing the three extracts with added fibre before consuming high-GI/GL (glycaemic index/glycaemic load) meals. In study one, 32 subjects received an investigational product/placebo before a standardized meal at two visits. In study two, 150 subjects received an investigational product/placebo before five different standardized meals. Postprandial glucose and insulin concentrations were lower 20–35 min after meal intake among subjects taking the investigational product, and fewer episodes of postprandial reactive hypoglycaemia were noted. For example, after consuming breakfast cereal with milk, lower glucose peaks were observed for the investigational product (vs. placebo) after 20 min (100.2 ± 1.97 vs. 112.5 ± 3.12 mg/dL, respectively; p < 0.01); lower insulin peaks were noted at the same time point (45.9 ± 4.02 IU/mL vs. 68.2 ± 5.53 IU/mL, respectively, p < 0.01). The combined formulation decreases the adverse consequences of high-GI/GL meal consumption. It can be an effective dietary supplement for the management of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Glioma C6 cells were transfected with a plasmid containing the calretinin (CR) and green fluorescent protein (GFP) coding regions to analyze the effect of CR's presence on [Ca2+]i. Positive transfectants were identified by the detection of GFP and [Ca2+]i was measured using fura-2 as a probe. We found that neither the basic [Ca2+]i nor activated [Ca2+]i achieved by exposure to ionomycin, ADP or thapsigargin were affected by CR's presence in transfected cells, despite the ability of CR to bind Ca2+ as part of fusion protein. The level of expressed CR was estimated as at least 1 microM. The presented results suggest that CR's function is unlikely to be an intracellular Ca2+-buffer and support the hypothesis that CR might be involved in a specific Ca2+-dependent process. The results of this work also show that the S65T mutant of GFP is compatible with fura-2 measurements of intracellular [Ca2+]. We have demonstrated that the presence of GFP, as a transfection marker of glioma C6 cells, does not disturb fura-2 fluorescence, the basal or activated [Ca2+]i in these cells.
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