Excess free fatty acid accumulation from abnormal lipid metabolism results in the insulin resistance in peripheral cells, subsequently causing hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia and/or hyperlipidemia in diabetes mellitus (DM) patients. Herein, we investigated the effect of phenolic acids on glucose uptake in an insulin-resistant cell-culture model and on hepatic insulin resistance and inflammation in rats fed a high-fat diet (HFD). The results show that vanillic acid (VA) demonstrated the highest glucose uptake ability among all tested phenolic acids in insulin-resistant FL83B mouse hepatocytes. Furthermore, rats fed HFD for 16 weeks were orally administered with VA daily (30 mg/kg body weight) at weeks 13–16. The results show that levels of serum insulin, glucose, triglyceride, and free fatty acid were significantly decreased in VA-treated HFD rats (p < 0.05), indicating the protective effects of VA against hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia in HFD rats. Moreover, VA significantly reduced values of area under the curve for glucose (AUCglucose) in oral glucose tolerance test and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index, suggesting the improving effect on glucose tolerance and insulin resistance in HFD rats. The Western blot analysis revealed that VA significantly up-regulated expression of hepatic insulin-signaling and lipid metabolism-related protein, including insulin receptor, phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase, glucose transporter 2, and phosphorylated acetyl CoA carboxylase in HFD rats. VA also significantly down-regulated hepatic inflammation-related proteins, including cyclooxygenase-2 and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 expressions in HFD rats. These results indicate that VA might ameliorate insulin resistance via improving hepatic insulin signaling and alleviating inflammation pathways in HFD rats. These findings also suggest the potential of VA in preventing the progression of DM.

No abstract

The isolation and utilization of pectin lyase (PL) from commercial pectic enzyme for methanol reduction in wine production was investigated. PL can be separated from pectinesterase (PE) and polygalacturonase (PG) on HM-CL-AIS affinity chromatography at pH 4; however, it is difficult to further distinguish PE from PG. Some desirable physicochemical properties such as transmittance, lightness, redness, and lower total pectin content are found in the external enzyme adding groups (PL, PE and PG, and pectic enzyme groups) in comparison to the control group. Methanol contents in pectic enzyme and the PE and PG groups increase from 628 +/- 13 (control group) to 3103 +/- 16 and 1736 +/- 67 mg/L ethanol in the final products, respectively. Nevertheless, the adding of PL does not cause any increase in methanol content. The results present in this study suggest that the HM-CL-AIS column is a simple, inexpensive, convenient, and effective method for PL purification. Moreover, the partial purified PL is a potential replacement of commercial pectic enzyme for pectin depolymerizing, methanol content reducing, and wine quality improving in wine production.

For understanding the characteristics of lysosomal enzymes, cathepsin D was first purified by heat treatment, concanavalin A-Sepharose and Sephadex G-150 chromatographies, and finally preparative electrophoresis. A purification of 244-fold against the crude extract was achieved. The recovery was 2 96. The purified enzyme appeared t o be electrophoretically homogeneous and had a molecular weight of 55 000. Inhibitor study and molecular weight determination indicated this enzyme t o be an aspartic proteinase, cathepsin D. The optimal pH and temperature were 3.