American ginseng
(
Panax quinquefolius
L.) is popularly
consumed as traditional herbal medicine and health
food for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Malonyl
ginsenosides (MGR) are the main natural ginsenosides in American ginseng.
However, whether the malonyl ginsenosides in
P. quinquefolius
(PQ-MGR) possess antidiabetic effects has not been explored yet.
In this study, the antidiabetic effects and the underlying mechanism
of PQ-MGR in high-fat diet/streptozotocin (HFD/STZ)-induced T2DM mice
were investigated. The chemical composition was analyzed by high-performance
liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry
(HPLC-ESI-MS/MS). Our results showed that 14 malonyl ginsenosides
were identified in the PQ-MGR. Among them, the content of m-Rb
1
represented about 77.4% of the total malonyl ginsenosides.
After a 5-week experiment, the PQ-MGR significantly reduced the fasting
blood glucose (FBG), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density
lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA),
alanine transaminase (ALT), and aspartate transaminase (AST) levels
and improved glucose tolerance and insulin resistance. Furthermore,
Western blot analysis demonstrated that the protein expressions of
p-PI3K, p-AKT, p-AMPK, p-ACC, PPAR
γ
, and GLUT4 in
the liver and skeletal muscle were significantly upregulated after
PQ-MGR treatment. In contrast, the protein expressions of p-IRS1 and
p-JNK were significantly downregulated. Our results revealed that
PQ-MGR could ameliorate glucose and lipid metabolism and insulin resistance
in T2DM via regulation of the insulin receptor substrate-1/phosphoinositide3-kinase/protein-kinase
B (IRS1/PI3K/Akt) and AMP-activated protein kinase/acetyl-CoA carboxylase
(AMPK/ACC) pathways. These findings suggest that PQ-MGR may be used
as an antidiabetic candidate drug for T2DM treatment.