Emodin improves insulin sensitivity in KKAy diabetic mice

Objective To study the effect of emodin on insulin resistance in KKAy diabetic mice and its underlying mechanism. Methods Fifty specific pathogen free（SPF） KKAy mice were randomly divided into low dose emodin group,medium dose emodin group,high dose emodin group,model group,and pioglitazone group according to their plasma glucose level.Mice in the first 4 groups received intra-gastric emodin（12.5,25,50mg/kg·d） and those in pioglitazone group received intra-gastric pioglitazone（1.95mg/kg·d） for 8 weeks.C57BL/6J mice served as a normal control group.Then,their fasting plasma glucose（FPG） and fasting insulin（Fins） levels were measured to calculate insulin sensitivity index（ISI）,total cholesterol（TC）,total triacylglycerol（TG）,high-density lipoprotein cholesterol（HDL-C）,low-density lipoprotein cholesterol（LDL-C）,floating fatty acid（FFA）,high sensitive C-reaction protein（hs-CRP）,and tumor necrosis factor-α（TNF-α） were measured,respectively. Results Emodin reduced the levels of FPG,TC,TG,LDL-C,FFA,hs-CRP and f TNF-α,and improved the insulin sensitivity in KKAy diabetic mice. Conclusion Emodin can reduce blood glucose and TNF-αlevels,and improve the insulin sensitivity in KKAy diabetic mice.