Objectives: 

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the most common form of diabetes. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the antidiabetic effects of a mineral mixture derived from wild plants (MM) and bovine lactoferrin (LF) in streptozotocin/nicotinamide-induced type 2 diabetes mice.

Materials: 

Three weeks old male slc/ddy mice were used in this experiment. The mice were intraperitoneally treated twice with streptozotocin (STZ : 70 mg/kgBW/day) 15 min after injection of nicotinamide (NA : 240 mg/kgBW/day) at a 1- day interval. Five weeks after the injection, MM at the dose of 100mg/kgBW or LF at the dose of 200mg/kgBW were administered to the diabetic mice. On week 3, the rate of 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG) uptake in skeletal muscle and the levels of plasma glucose and insulin at the initial and after intraperitoneal injection of glucose (glucose tolerance test : GTT) were investigated. The activity of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), Akt (known as protein kinase B) and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in skeletal muscle was also measured.

Results: 

The administration of MM increased significantly 2DG uptake rate and promoted the recovery of plasma glucose in GTT of the diabetic mice. PI3K activity in skeletal muscle of MM-treated mice also increased, though little effects on Akt and AMPK activity, and plasma insulin levels were observed. In the diabetic mice administered LF, the plasma glucose level was rather high and no effective changes on 2DG uptake rate, the activity of PI3K, Akt and AMPK in skeletal muscle were found.

Conclusions: 

These results indicate that ¹ the administration of MM is to be effective in the improvement of insulin resistance in type 2 diabetic mice, but ² the administration of LF has no anti-diabetic effects. It is also suggested that MM reduces the insulin resistance by activates PI3K/protein kinase Cλ-glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) pathway.