Abstract
Diabetes mellitus (DM) and its complications pose a major public health threat which is approaching epidemic proportions globally. Current drug options may not provide good efficacy and even cause serious adverse effects. Seeking safe and effective agents for DM treatment has been an area of intensive interest. As a healing system originating in Tibet, Traditional Tibetan Medicine (TTM) has been widely used by Tibetan people for the prevention and treatment of DM and its complications for hundreds of years. Tibetan Materia Medica (TMM) including the flower of Edgeworthia gardneri (Wall.) Meisn., Phyllanthi Fructus, Chebulae Fructus, Huidouba, and Berberidis Cortex are most frequently used and studied. These TMMs possess hypoglycemic, anti-insulin resistant, anti-glycation, lipid lowering, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidative effects. The underlying mechanisms of these actions may be related to their α-glucosidase inhibitory, insulin signaling promoting, PPARs-activating, gut microbiota modulation, islet β cell-preserving, and TNF-α signaling suppressive properties. This review presents a comprehensive overview of the mode and mechanisms of action of various active constituents, extracts, preparations, and formulas from TMM. The dynamic beneficial effects of the products prepared from TMM for the management of DM and its complications are summarized. These TMMs are valuable materia medica which have the potential to be developed as safe and effective anti-DM agents.
Highlights
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder with insufficient insulin production or insulin resistance, resulting in a high level of blood glucose (Chatterjee et al, 2017)
Insulin injection is mostly used in patients with type 1 DM (T1DM) (JC, 2012), whereas oral medication is generally prescribed to patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), which is usually initiated with metformin as the first-line medicine along with combination therapy including other hypoglycemic agents, such as pioglitazone, sulfonylureas, meglitinides, and α-glucosidase inhibitors (Nathan, 2015)
The results showed that the flower of E. gardneri and Huidouba were significantly correlated with DM, suggesting that anti-DM may be one of the major therapeutic effects for these two Tibetan Materia Medica (TMM)
Summary
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder with insufficient insulin production or insulin resistance, resulting in a high level of blood glucose (Chatterjee et al, 2017). There are numerous studies investigated the anti-DM property of TTM and the common therapeutic targets including α-glucosidase, PPARs (peroxisome proliferatoractivated receptors), insulin signaling pathways, β-cell function and gut microbiota The results showed that the flower of E. gardneri and Huidouba were significantly correlated with DM, suggesting that anti-DM may be one of the major therapeutic effects for these two TMMs. Studies on the fruits of T. chebula Retz.
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