Poster Presentation Australian Diabetes Society and the Australian Diabetes Educators Association Annual Scientific Meeting 2016

French maritime pine bark extract-based supplement suppress hepatic inflammation and improve insulin sensitivity (#213)

Kristine C McGrath 1 , Xiaohong Ly 2 , Alison K Heather 3
  1. Molecular Biosciences Team, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  2. Department of Endocrinology, Dezhou people’s Hospital, Shandong, China
  3. Department of Physiology; School of Medical Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

Background and Aim:

The rates of mortality and morbidity associated with obesity-induced insulin resistant states are escalating rapidly worldwide. The evolving concept of insulin resistance developing as a result of chronic, low-grade inflammation has provided a range of new therapeutic targets. The components of Hiper Health Supplement, a complementary medicine-based supplement, all have published anti-inflammatory actions both in vitro and in vivo. This study aimed to test whether Hiper Health Supplement could improve insulin sensitivity in a murine model of obesity-induced insulin resistance and also to elucidate whether this improvement was associated with the suppression of hepatic inflammation.

Methods and results:  To assess the supplement’s capacity to protect from the onset of inflammation, subsets of mice were treated with the supplement (administered via the drinking water) simultaneously from the beginning of the experiment (week 1 – 16). In contrast, to investigate the supplement’s ability to suppress hepatic inflammation and improve insulin sensitivity, a subset of mice were only administered the supplement in the final 6 weeks of the experiment (week 11 – 16). Hepatic inflammation, as evidenced by the relative expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (via RT-qPCR), was reduced by the supplement. High fasting blood glucose and blood insulin levels, characteristic of insulin resistance, were attenuated by the consumption of the supplement. An exploration of the anti-inflammatory mechanism in vitro showed that the supplement was able to both protect for the onset of inflammation and suppress an established inflammatory response in palmitic acid-stimulated hepatocytes.

Conclusions: The side effect profile of current conventional pharmacotherapies used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes highlights the need for alternative medications. The studies presented establish a role for Hiper Health Supplement in the treatment of type 2 diabetes and warrant further investigation into Hiper Health Supplement’s potential in the treatment of other inflammatory disease processes.