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Effects of Lycium barbarum L. root bark extract on alloxan-induced diabetic mice

Dawei Gao, Qingwang Li, Zhiwei Liu, Ying Li, Zhihua Liu, Yusheng Fan, Zengsheng Han and Jian Li1

Background: Lycium barbarum L. (LbL), as one of the traditional Chinese medicines, has been used to treat lung disease, hematemesis, hypertension, inflammation and diabetes for centuries. This study aims to reveal the hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effects of LbL root bark extract on hyperlipidemic alloxan-induced diabetic mice.

Methods: A total of 24 male, hyperlipidemic, alloxan-induced diabetic mice were divided into three groups: diabetes control, diabetes plus LbL high dose (200 mg/kg) and diabetes plus LbL low dose (100 mg/kg). One group of eight normal mice was kept as a control. The four groups of mice were administered LbL solution or dH2O daily for 28 days. Fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, body weight and serum insulin levels have been determined.

Results: Results indicated that LbL-treated groups resulted in significant dose-dependent decreases of fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol and triglycerides. The LbL treated group also showed a tendency to improve in body weight gain. Furthermore, the serum insulin level of each group was assayed and the diabetes control group had low serum insulin levels compared with that of the normal control group. At the same time, the insulin levels were dose-dependently raised in the LbL-treated groups compared with that of the diabetes control group.

Conclusion: The results indicate that LbL administration to diabetic mice would alleviate the increases in blood glucose and lipid levels associated with diabetes, improve abnormal glucose metabolism and increase insulin secretion by restoring the impaired pancreas β-cells in alloxan-induced diabetic mice. This would suggest that LbL has hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic potential and could be useful for diabetic therapy.