ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1675295
This article is part of the Research TopicPharmaceutical Care and Wellness of DiabetesView all 10 articles
Huoxue-Jiangtang Decoction Ameliorates Type 2 Diabetes in High-Fat Diet and Streptozotocin-Induced Rats
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shenzhen TCM Hospital, Shenzhen, China
- 2Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
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A traditional Chinese herbal decoction, Huoxue-Jiangtang decoction (HXJT), has been clinically prescribed to patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) to improve hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia for many years. However, the potential mechanisms of its'anti-diabetic effects are not clear. The aim of this study was to explore the anti-diabetic effects and underlying molecular mechanism of HXJT on the T2DM rats, which were fed with high-fat diet and then induced with streptozotocin. HPLC-MS analysis was performed to acquire the features of the chemical compositions of HXJT and conduct as quality control. The T2DM rats were treated with metformin or HXJT for eight weeks. The treatment with HXJT significantly lowered hyperglycemia and improved insulin resistance in T2DM rats, revealed by results from multiple tests, including fasting-blood glucose, glucose tolerance, fasting-insulin level, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance and insulin sensitivity index analysis, as well as histology of pancreas islets. HXJT-treatment decreased blood lipid profile, included total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride, even though it did not change the rats' body weight. The western blot results indicated that HXJT reversed the down-regulation of AKT and PI3K, and markedly increased the Glucose transporter type 4 (GLUT4) in skeletal muscles. Moreover, the levels of glycogen synthetase, hexokinase, superoxide dismutase, glycogen and muscle glycogen in HXJT group significantly increased relative to that of the non-treatment T2DM group, while the TNF-α decreased observably. In conclusion, HXJT improves insulin resistance, increases insulin sensitivity and promises in preserving the glucose homeostasis. The potential molecular mechanisms are related to promoting PI3K/Akt activation and GLUT4 in skeletal muscles directly or indirectly.
Keywords: type 2 diabetes, Insulin Resistance, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Huoxue-Jiangtang decotion, Akt, GLUT4
Received: 29 Jul 2025; Accepted: 16 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lee, Tan, Li, Liu and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Maosheng Lee, realsmile360@163.com
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