Berberine protects against palmitate-induced endothelial dysfunction: involvements of upregulation of AMPK and eNOS and downregulation of NOX4.

Endothelial dysfunction is a critical factor during the initiation of cardiovascular complications in diabetes. Berberine can ameliorate endothelial dysfunction induced by diabetes. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear.

Design, synthesis and cytotoxicity of cell death mechanism of rotundic acid derivatives.

In the present investigation, 16 new rotundic acid (RA) derivatives modified at the C-3, C-23 and C-28 positions were synthesized. The cytotoxicities of the derivatives were evaluated against HeLa, A375, HepG2, SPC-A1 and NCI-H446 human tumor cell lines by MTT assay. Among these derivatives, compounds 4-7 exhibited stronger cell growth inhibitory than RA and compound 4 was found to be the best inhibition activity on five human tumor cell lines with IC50 <10 μM.

Synthesis, characterization and cytotoxicity of new rotundic acid derivatives.

Rotundic acid (RA, 1), a natural compound, exhibits potent tumor cell growth inhibiting properties. To date there are no reports on derivatives of RA. Furthermore, the 28-COOH position of RA might make it unstable and induced serious gastrointestinal side effects when it was applied in vivo.

Hypoglycemic effect of protopanaxadiol-type ginsenosides and compound K on Type 2 diabetes mice induced by high-fat diet combining with streptozotocin via suppression of hepatic gluconeogenesis.

Compound K (CK) is a final intestinal metabolite of protopanaxadiol-type ginsenosides (PDG) from Panax ginseng. Although anti-diabetic activity of CK have been reported with genetic mouse models (db/db mice) in recent years, the therapeutic usefulness of CK and PDG in type 2 diabetes, a more prevalent form of diabetes, remains unclear. In the present investigation, we developed a mouse of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus that closely simulated the metabolic abnormalities of the human disease.