Abstract
Insulin resistance and β cell failure are the main causes of elevated blood glucose levels in Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), a complex and multifactorial metabolic disease. Several medications to treat or reduce the symptoms of T2DM are used, including the injection of insulin and the application of insulin sensitizing or glucose production reducing drugs. Furthermore, the use of phytochemicals has attracted increasing attention for the therapy and prevention of T2DM. In order to identify and characterize antidiabetic compounds, efficient test systems are required. Here we present a modified chick embryo model (hens egg test, HET), which has originally been developed to determine the potential irritancy of chemicals, as a versatile tool for the characterization of phytochemicals with antidiabetic properties. We termed this modified assay variation Gluc-HET. More precisely, we determined the influence of variations in the incubation time of the fertilized eggs and studied the effects of different buffer parameters, such as the temperature, composition and volume, used for drug application. In addition, we tested several putative antidiabetic plant extracts, which have been identified in an in-vitro primary screening procedure, for their effectiveness in reducing blood glucose levels in-ovo. Taken together, our Gluc-HET model has proven to be a reliable and manageable system for the characterization of antidiabetic compounds.
Highlights
Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both [1]
The eggshell was lightly pecked with a pointed pair of tweezers in this area and 100 or 300 μL of a buffer solution (HBSS, Phosphate buffered saline (PBS) or hydroxyethylpiperazine-N-2-ethane sulfonic acid (HEPES)) containing the putative blood glucose-lowering substance was added
The blood glucose levels were determined via a blood glucose meter (Accu-Check Performa, Roche Diabetes Care GmbH, Mannheim, Germany) or HPLC as previously reported [20]
Summary
Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both [1]. In type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), which accounts for ~90–95% of the diabetes cases, individuals have insulin resistance and usually a relative insulin deficiency [2]. Changes in lifestyle in the last decades, especially those related to overnutrition, physical inactivity, and aging are known factors increasing the global incidence of T2DM. According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), nearly 400 million people have diabetes mellitus worldwide, and this number is expected to reach 600. Testing antidiabetic compounds with Gluc-HET to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section
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