Abscisic Acid: A Novel Nutraceutical for Glycemic Control

Abstract

Abscisic acid is naturally present in fruits and vegetables, and it plays an important role in managing glucose homeostasis in humans. According to the latest U.S. dietary survey, about 92% of the population might have a deficient intake of ABA due to their deficient intake of fruits and vegetables. This review summarizes the in vitro, preclinical, mechanistic, and human translational findings obtained over the past 15 years in the study of the role of ABA in glycemic control. In 2007, dietary ABA was first reported to ameliorate glucose tolerance and obesity-related inflammation in mice. The most recent findings regarding the topic of ABA and its proposed receptor lanthionine synthetase C-like 2 in glycemic control and their interplay with insulin and glucagon-like peptide-1 suggest a major role for ABA in the physiological response to a glucose load in humans. Moreover, emerging evidence suggests that the ABA response might be dysfunctional in diabetic subjects. Follow on intervention studies in healthy individuals show that low-dose dietary ABA administration exerts a beneficial effect on the glycemia and insulinemia profiles after oral glucose load. These recent findings showing benefits in humans, together with extensive efficacy data in mouse models of diabetes and inflammatory disease, suggest the need for reference ABA values and its possible exploitation of the glycemia-lowering effects of ABA for preventative purposes. Larger clinical studies on healthy, prediabetic, and diabetic subjects are needed to determine whether addressing the widespread dietary ABA deficiency improves glucose control in humans.

Abscisic acid – an anti-angiogenic phytohormone that modulates the phenotypical plasticity of endothelial cells and macrophages

“…Since ABA is present in vegetables and fruits, dietary intake may provide a significant source of ABA in humans. In accordance with this, ABA has been shown to play an important role in managing glucose homeostasis and exhibiting anti-tumorigenic effects in humans, suggesting that ABA activity is therapeutically relevant in pathological processes affecting vertebrates (Zocchi et al, 2017). Herein, we demonstrate, for the first time, the preclinical effectiveness and potential usefulness of ABA as an anti-angiogenic agent.…”

Abscisic acid stimulates the release of insulin and of GLP‐1 in the rat perfused pancreas and intestine

“…LANCL2 has been identified as the mammalian receptor mediating the functional effects of ABA in mammals . ABA, via LANCL2 binding, stimulates insulin release and insulin‐independent glucose uptake in myocytes and adipocytes and induces brown fat activity . The downstream signalling pathway activated by ABA binding to LANCL2 involves the activation of a G protein, cyclic AMP production, with subsequent PKA‐mediated phosphorylation of CD38, and synthesis of the Ca 2+ ‐mobilizer cyclic ADP‐ribose .…”

“…21,31,32 ABA, via LANCL2 binding, stimulates insulin release and insulin-independent glucose uptake in myocytes and adipocytes and induces brown fat activity. 2,5,33 The downstream signalling pathway activated by ABA binding to LANCL2 involves the activation of a G protein, cyclic AMP production, with subsequent PKA-mediated phosphorylation of CD38, and synthesis of the Ca 2+ -mobilizer cyclic ADP-ribose. 18,21,34 In addition, ABA binding induces the nuclear translocation of LANCL2, as also occurs after chemical or mutational demyristoylation.…”

Chemical regulators of plant hormones and their applications in basic research and agriculture*

“…Lastly, several plant hormones have been shown to have bioactivity in other species (e.g. auxin has been implicated in cancer [405][406][407], SA and its derivatives have an anti-inflammatory effects in humans [408], ABA is included in nutraceuticals for glycemic control [409,410], JA and its derivatives promote apoptosis of human cancer cells [411][412][413], and SL analogs have anti-cancer activity [414,415] and induce hyphal branching in AM fungi [318]). It is reasonable that those PGRs targeting proteins with functional and structural conservation across species might also act as regulators in multiple species.…”