Antidiabetic Activity of Picris japonica Thunb Aqueous Extract in Diabetic KK-A(y) Mice

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the hypoglycemic effect of Picris japonica Thunb (Asteraceae) on KK-Ay mice. METHODS: The hypoglycemic effect of Picris japonica aqueous extract (PJE) in a spontaneous type 2 diabetic model (KK-A(y) mice) was studied in the present research. PJE was administrated at doses of 700 mg/kg and 350 mg/kg (calculated as crude herb) for 14 days and blood glucose, oral glucose tolerance test, plasma insulin level, and blood lipid were evaluated. Meanwhile, Rosiglitazone was used for the positive control. RESULTS: It was found the PJE treatment significantly reduced blood glucose level and improved oral glucose tolerance ability (p < 0.01 or p < 0.05) in a dose-dependent manner compared to the control diabetic mice. The blood insulin levels were significantly reduced in PJE-treated mice (700 mg/kg) and Rosiglitazone compared with the diabetic control (p < 0.01). Compared with the control diabetic group, the serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, and low density lipoprotein cholesterol were reduced by PJE (700 mg/kg) and Rosiglitazone (p < 0.05), and the serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol was significantly increased only by Rosiglitazone (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The findings demonstrate that Picris japonica has remarkable antidiabetic effect in diabetic KK-A(y) mice, which suggests that Picris japonica may be beneficial to the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus.