Abstract
Salvianolic acid A (SAA), an important bioactive polyphenolic acid found in Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, may be used for treating metabolic disorders due to its anti-inflammatory activity. Since chronic inflammation plays an important role in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) complicated with atherosclerosis (AS), SAA may have beneficial effects on AS. Here, we evaluated the effects of SAA on metabolic disorders in male Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats induced by a high-fat diet and Vitamin D3 injections. Compared with the model group, the SAA high dosage (1 mg/kg) group exhibited decreased hemoglobin A1C levels but unchanged blood glucose levels. The disrupted lipid profiles were ameliorated by SAA, with significantly decreased levels of blood cholesterol, LDL-C and triglyceride. The protective effects of SAA against early AS were further confirmed by histopathological examination of aortic tissues. In addition, we observed that SAA decreased serum hs-CRP levels and suppressed the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome and NF-κB signaling in aortic tissues of ZDF rats. Collectively, our results demonstrate the potential of SAA to alleviate AS and T2DM in ZDF rats as a result of its anti-inflammatory effects.
Highlights
Diabetes mellitus is a common endocrine metabolic disease that affects millions of adults worldwide
The results showed that food intake in the Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) model group was higher than that in the ZL control group (p < 0.05), and no significant differences were seen between the drug-treated groups (p > 0.05)
Salvianolic acid A (SAA) did not have any effects on the body weight and food intake in ZDF rats
Summary
Diabetes mellitus is a common endocrine metabolic disease that affects millions of adults worldwide. A large number of studies have shown that in addition to lipid metabolism disorders, inflammation is the common pathological basis for T2DM and AS [4,5,6]. Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge is a traditional Chinese medicine that is often used for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. A number of preclinical studies have found that SAA has a certain preventive effect on diabetes and its related complications [10,11,12]. From the literature review and our own research results, we found that SAA has significant anti-inflammatory activities. We established an animal model of T2DM with early AS by a high-fat diet plus intraperitoneal injections of VD3 to evaluate the effects of SAA on early Zucker diabetic fatty rats
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