Effect of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) on glucose transport in cultured skeletal muscle cells
Kusumarn Noi pha, Suvina Ratanachaiyavong Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University. Hat-Yai. Songkhla 9010 Thailand
Rationale: In South Asian countries, ginger iber officinale Roscoe) is widely used in traditional medicine Most of the previous studies have investigated in detail of its anti-diabetic effect in humans and experimental animals. However, its hypoglycemic effect at cellular and molecular level has not been elucidated.
objectives: The purpose of the study was to elucidate the molecular mec officinale on glucose transport in skeletal muscle ce L6 myotubes.
Materials and Methods: Freeze-dried fresh ginger juice was suspended in distilled water to investigate glucose transport activity in L6 myotubes. Glucose transport was determined using the 2-PH-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG uptake assay. Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) was used to analyze glucose transponer 1 and 4 (GLUTI and GLUT4) expression. The results were expressed as mean t SE and compared with student t test for the level of significance at p<0.05
Results: Ginger extract (400 ug/ml) significantly increased glucose uptake in L6 myotubes after 20-h incubation (208.03 t 10.65% above basal value, p<0.05). This activity was partially inhibited by the protein synthesis inhibitor, cycloheximide. The enhancement of glucose transport by ginger was accompanied by significantly increased levels of both GLUTI and GLUT4 mRNA expression
Conclusion: There are several mechanisms involved in the enhancement of glucose transport by ginger in L6 myotubes. From this present study, we can conclude that the up-regulation of GLUTI and GLUT4 expression is an important mechanism regulating glucose transport activity by ginger.