News Release

Can berberine enhance glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in rat islets?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

World Journal of Gastroenterology

The therapeutical actions of berberine on diabetes have been well studied. Previous researches show that berberine modulates cholesterol through increasing low-density lipoprotein receptor mRNA stability, reduces body adiposity and increases insulin sensitivity partly through activating AMP-activated protein kinase and improves glucose metabolism via induction of glycolysis. Yet, the underlying mechanism for berberine promoting insulin release remains unclear.

A research article to be published on October 21, 2008 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. The research team was directed by Prof. Lu from Institute of integrative traditional and western medicine of Tongji medical college.

Using glucose-stimulated insulin secretion assay, the authors first examined the action of berberine on insulin secretion. Further, the authors detected the expression of HNF4 alpha on both gene and protein levels to examine if HNF4 alpha a candidate target of berberine. The role of HNF4 alpha in mediating berberine's insulinotropic effect was further elucidated by determining the activity of Glucokinase, the "Glucose Sensor" in pancreatic beta cell, which is also deemed as one of the downstream targets of the HNFs transcription regulatory circuit in pancreatic islets.

The results demonstrate that berberine only exerts insulinotropic effect in the high glucose condition, and berberine could enhance HNF4 alpha expression and GK activity dose-dependently.

The data of the research strongly suggested a correlation among insulin secretion, HNF4α expression and GK activity. The article proposes that berberine might facilitate glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in a pathway involving HNF4 alpha, which subsequently modulats the downstream targets such as glucokinase, resulting in increased sensitivity of beta cell to glucose challenge and insulin release.

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Reference: Wang ZQ, Lu FE, Leng SH, Fang XS, Chen G, Wang ZS, Dong LP, Yan ZQ. Facilitating effects of berberine on rat pancreatic islets through modulating the expression of hepatic nuclear factor 4 alpha and the activity of glucokinase. World J Gastroenterol 2008; 14(39): 6004-6011 http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/14/6004.asp

Correspondence to: Dr. Fu-Er Lu, Institute of Integrative Traditional and Western Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, Hubei Province, China. felu@tjh.tjmu.edu.cn Telephone: +86-27-83663237 Fax: +86-27-83663237

About World Journal of Gastroenterology

World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H pylori infection. It provides a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2003-2000 IF: 3.318, 2.532, 1.445 and 0.993. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th of every month. The WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the title China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.

About The WJG Press

The WJG Press mainly publishes World Journal of Gastroenterology.


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