Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Hypoglycemic effect of Berberis microphylla G Forst root extract

Maria C Furrianca^1,2, Marysol Alvear³, Tomás Zambrano², Victor Fajardo⁴, Luis A Salazar²

¹Nursing Department, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile; ²Center of Molecular Biology and Pharmacogenetics, Scientific and Technological Bioresource Nucleus (BIOREN), Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile; ³Center of Amelioration and Sustainability of Volcanic Soils, Scientific and Technological Bioresource Nucleus (BIOREN), Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile; ⁴Department of Science and Natural Resources, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile.

For correspondence:- Luis Salazar Email: luis.salazar@ufrontera.cl Tel:+56452596724

Accepted: 17 August 2017 Published: 30 September 2017

Citation: Furrianca MC, Alvear M, Zambrano T, Fajardo V, Salazar LA. Hypoglycemic effect of Berberis microphylla G Forst root extract. Trop J Pharm Res 2017; 16(9):2179-2184 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v16i9.19

© 2017 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of the root extract of Berberis microphylla on glucose uptake and AMPK-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activity in non-resistant and insulin-resistant HepG2 cells.

Methods: B. microphylla root was extracted with absolute ethanol, filtered, concentrated and lyophilized. Subsequently, liver cells, HepG2 (resistant and non-insulin resistant), were exposed for 24 h to different concentrations of the extract (10, 5, 2.5 and 1.25 x 10^-3 μg/μL) to determine the stimulation of glucose uptake and phosphorylation of AMPK.

Results: In HepG2 cells without resistance exposed to B. microphylla root extract, glucose uptake varied from 34 to 59 % of the available glucose while AMPK phosphorylation was 1.9 to 3.6 times the phosphorylation of the control. In insulin-resistant HepG2 cells, glucose uptake varied from 68 to 95 % of available glucose while AMPK phosphorylation was 1.8 to 3.3 times the phosphorylation of the control.

Conclusion: The root extract of B. microphylla possesses hypoglycemic effects and stimulates glucose uptake in HepG2 cells with and without resistance by activating AMPK protein.

Keywords: Calafate, Diabetes, Antihyperglycemic effect, Phytomedicine, Berberis, Insulin resistance