Coriolus versicolor aqueous extract ameliorates insulin resistance with PI3K/Akt and p38 MAPK signaling pathways involved in diabetic skeletal muscle

Abstract

Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are usually with poor immunity and easier to suffer from cancer and microbial infections. Herein, we report an efficient anti-diabetic medicinal mushroom, Coriolus versicolor (CV). This study aimed to investigate the anti-diabetic and anti-insulin-resistance effects of CV aqueous extract in myoblasts (L6 cells) and skeletal muscle of T2DM rat. Our results showed that CV extract treatment significantly reduced blood glucose levels of T2DM rats, whereas CV extract increased glucose consumption in insulin resistant L6 cells. Besides, the translocation and expression of glucose transporter 4 were enhanced by CV extract, which indicated that CV extract was effective in diabetic skeletal muscle. Moreover, CV extract treatments resulted in remarkable anti-insulin-resistance effects, which was reflected by the change of gene and protein expression levels in PI3K/Akt and p38 MAPK pathways. PI3K inhibitor, LY29004, and p38 MAPK inhibitor, SB203580 confirmed it further. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that the CV extract exhibited anti-diabetic and anti-insulin-resistance effects in diabetic skeletal muscle, and the effects were mediated by PI3K/Akt and p38 MAPK pathways. These findings are remarkable when considering the use of commercially available CV by diabetic patients who also suffer from cancer or microbial infections.

Coriolus versicolor alleviates diabetic cardiomyopathy by inhibiting cardiac fibrosis and NLRP3 inflammasome activation

“…CFs grown to 70% confluence were treated with low glucose (control: 5.5 mM) or HG (33 mM). As reported in our last study (Xian et al, ), CV extract (100 and 200 mg/ml) can lower the glucose level in skeletal muscle, especially at a concentration of 200 mg/ml. Therefore, in this study, the HG‐treated cells were exposed to CV extract at the concentration of 200 mg/ml for 48 hr.…”

“…The CV samples were purchased from Daxinganling Lingonberry Boreal Biotech Co., Ltd., which originated from Heilongjiang Province of China. CV was extracted as described in our last study (Xian et al, ). We determined that the content of polysaccharides was 74.17% (w/w).…”

“…As described in our previous report (Xian et al, ), male Sprague‐Dawley rats (180–220 g) were obtained from the Animal Center of The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, China. All rats were housed under a 12/12‐hr light/dark cycle with a constant humidity of 55 ± 5%.…”

“…The sham group received a normal diet. The +CV group was intragastrically treated with CV (25 mg/kg/day), as in our previous experimental study (Xian et al, ). The results for different concentrations (25, 50, and 100 mg/kg/day) of CV in rats showed that the dosage of 25 mg/kg/day worked well, and we therefore adopted this standard in this study.…”

“…In addition, CV polysaccharides have α‐glucosidase inhibitory properties (Su, Lai, & Ng, ). Our previous study found that CV extract not only reduced blood glucose levels but also had anti‐insulin resistance effects, and the effects were partially mediated by the PI3K/Akt and p38 MAPK pathways in diabetic skeletal muscle (Xian et al, ). However, the influence of CV extract on DCM remains unclear.…”