Therapeutic potential of buckwheat hull flavonoids in db/db mice, a model of type 2 diabetes

Abstract In this study, the therapeutic effects of buckwheat hull flavonoids (BHFs) on type 2 diabetes db/db mice were investigated. After administration by BHFs nine weeks, body weight, visceral index, biochemical indicators in serum and in liver were detected. The liver pathological changes were observed under microscopic observations. Real-time quantitative PCR was used to detect IRS-1, PI3kα, AKT2, SREBP-1c, FAS, ACC1 mRNA expression in liver. The results showed that insulin resistance significantly reduced after the BHFs treatment. BHFs could reduce the TG, TC, vLDL-c, FFA levels in serum and TG, TC levels in liver and potentiate insulin resistance-related PI3k / AKT2 signal pathway and down-regulated SREBP-1c, FAS, ACC1 mRNA in the liver tissue of db/db mice. Moreover, BHFs could significantly alleviate the structure disorder of liver. The protective effect of BHFs on T2DM may be mediated by facilitating PI3k/AKT signal pathway and down-regulating SREBP-1c, FAS and ACC1 mRNA expression to reduce lipid synthesis.