Arctium lappa contributes to the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus by regulating glucose homeostasis and improving oxidative stress: A critical review of in vitro and in vivo animal‐based studies

Abstract

Diabetes is a metabolic disease highly widespread worldwide, and the most common form is the type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). A large number of synthetic drugs are currently available for the treatment of diabetes; however, they present various side effects and, for this reason, people are increasingly inclined to search natural alternative treatments. Among these, Arctium lappa (A. lappa) has interesting anti‐diabetic activities, exerted by improving glucose homeostasis and reducing insulin‐resistance. In addition, A. lappa exerts a marked antioxidant activity, an effect known to play a pivotal role in the treatment of T2DM. The purpose of this review is to analyse scientific evidence in order to evaluate the role of A. lappa and its bioactive compounds in management of T2DM. The literature search performed provided only in vitro and animal‐based studies. No clinical studies have been conducted in order to investigate the effect of A. lappa on T2DM patients. However, available literature provides evidence for further clinical trials in order to confirm these claimed activities on humans.

Potential Molecular Mechanism of Rubi Fructus in the Treatment of T2DM Based on Multidimensional Biological Network

“…Both the excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the reduced capacity of the antioxidant enzyme can disturb the insulin signal transduction [27] , and hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) serves as a key factor in regulating the oxygen homeostasis [28] . Ellagic acid that is equipped with the anti-oxidative effect can ameliorate insulin resistance and contribute to the treatment of liver complications of T2DM by down-regulating the expression of HIT-α [30] .…”

Burdock Fructooligosaccharide Attenuates High Glucose-Induced Apoptosis and Oxidative Stress Injury in Renal Tubular Epithelial Cells

“…BFO has antioxidant properties and the ability to scavenge free radicals ( Jiang et al, 2019 ), it can significantly regulate lipid metabolism in diabetic rats ( Li et al, 2019 ) and exert antithrombotic effects via regulating the ERK/NF-κB pathway ( Qiu et al, 2020 ), and it has anti-inflammatory effects in vivo and in vitro ( Zhang et al, 2019 ; Zhang X. et al, 2020 ), as well as anti-cancer effects ( Xu et al, 2019 ). BFO can also lower fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels and improve glucose tolerance ( Gao Y. et al, 2018 ; Annunziata et al, 2019 ; Yuan et al, 2021 ). However, no research has addressed the role of BFO in ameliorating NRK-52E cell apoptosis and oxidative stress injury induced by HG.…”

A Pilot Screening of Agro-Food Waste Products as Sources of Nutraceutical Formulations to Improve Simulated Postprandial Glycaemia and Insulinaemia in Healthy Subjects

“…A wide range of natural substances of plant origin, specifically, polyphenols, carotenoids, and terpenoids [1][2][3][4][5] have been demonstrated to be active on glycaemia in humans. To this regard, agro-food waste products are increasingly attracting a great interest from the nutraceutical industry, since they represent still rich sources of bioactive compounds which can be conveniently recovered for the formulation of food supplements indicated for the control of glycaemia.…”