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Since the mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) controls the rate of carbohydrate oxidation, impairment of PDC activity mediated by high-fat intake has been advocated as a causative factor for the skeletal muscle insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and the onset of type 2 diabetes (T2D). There are also situations where muscle insulin resistance can occur independently from high-fat dietary intake such as sepsis, inflammation, or drug administration though they all may share the same underlying mechanism, i.e., via activation of forkhead box family of transcription factors, and to a lower extent via peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors. The main feature of T2D is a chronic elevation in blood glucose levels. Chronic systemic hyperglycaemia is toxic and can lead to cellular dysfunction that may become irreversible over time due to deterioration of the pericyte cell's ability to provide vascular stability and control to endothelial proliferation. Therefore, it may not be surprising that T2D's complications are mainly macrovascular and microvascular related, i.e., neuropathy, retinopathy, nephropathy, coronary artery, and peripheral vascular diseases. However, life style intervention such as exercise, which is the most potent physiological activator of muscle PDC, along with pharmacological intervention such as administration of dichloroacetate or L-carnitine can prove to be viable strategies for treating muscle insulin resistance in obesity and T2D as they can potentially restore whole body glucose disposal.
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The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of balsamic vinegar on β-cell dysfunction.
In this study, 28-week-old Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats were fed a normal chow diet or a high-fat diet (HFD) and were provided with tap water or dilute balsamic vinegar for 4 weeks. Oral glucose tolerance tests and histopathological analyses were performed thereafter.
In rats fed both the both chow diet and the HFD, the rats given balsamic vinegar showed increased insulin staining in islets compared with tap water administered rats. Balsamic vinegar administration also increased β-cell ATP-binding cassette transporter subfamily A member 1 (ABCA1) expression in islets and decreased cholesterol levels.
These findings provide the first evidence for an anti-diabetic effect of balsamic vinegar through improvement of β-cell function via increasing β-cell ABCA1 expression.
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