Piperine is capable of improving pancreatic β-cell apoptosis in high fat diet and streptozotocin induced diabetic mice
He Qian, Jiaying Xu, Jia Gu, Xing Tong, Zhongxiao Wan, Ying Gu, Chen Fang, Li‐Qiang Qin
Abstract
To investigate the effect of piperine on pancreatic β cell apoptosis, mice were fed with high-fat diet and injected with 40 mg/kg streptozotoci to establish diabetic model. The mice in the piperine group received 30 mg/kg body weight of piperine by gavage for 12 weeks. Compared with the model group, piperine intervention significantly decreased fasting blooding glucose, and increased homeostasis model assessment (HOMA)-β. Piperine also increased pancreatic superoxide dismutase and decreased malondialdehyde. Piperine significantly decreased the apoptotic rate of pancreatic β-cells, and the protein expression of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, also up-regulated the protein expression of phosphorylated PI3K and AKT in pancreas. In addition, apoptosis was induced in mouse insulinoma 6 cells by palmitate. Piperine treatment decreased apoptosis, protein expression of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, and cytochrome C in cells. Thus, piperine plays a beneficial role on diabetic mice by improving pancreatic β-cell dysfunction, this might be associated with regulation on PI3K/Akt-mediated anti-apoptosis signaling.