• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.101-108
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• 1993

This study was made to understand a hypoglycemic action of the fat soluble fraction of Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats by determining the activities of several enzymes related to carbohydrate and lipid metabolism as well as several blood component levels such as glucose and ketone bodies, and non-esterified fatty acids. Albino rats (Sprague Dawley, 170-200g, 3) were injected once with 70mg streptozotocinhg body weight intraperitoneally and fed with ordinary diet for 7 days, and then the fat soluble fraction (5 mg~20 mg/day/rat) was injected intraperitoneally once a day for three days to rats having high blood glucose level over 340 mg/100ml. After a final injection of the fat soluble fraction, rats u.ere starved for 16 hours followed by the analysis of blood serum and liver enzymes. It was found that increased levels of glucose, ketone bodies and free fatty acids in streptozotocin induced rats were decreased appreciably by administration of the fat soluble fraction. However, the amount of administered fat soluble fraction did not show any significantly different hypoglycemic action. Decreased activities of glucokinase, phosphofructokinase, pyruvate kinase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase and acetyl CoA carboxylase of the liver of streptozotocin induced diabetic rats were greatly modified suggesting that a hypoglycemic action of the fat soluble fraction was also appreciable as ginseng saponin fraction. We also compared a hypoglycemic action of the fat soluble fraction prepared from American ginseng and Chinese ginseng with that of Korean pain ginseng. 핀o significant difference of the hypoglycemic activity was observed between the above ginseng fat soluble fractions, suggesting that a study of the fat soluble fraction might be one of the most interesting subjects relating to diabetic hyperglycemia in the near future.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.246-253
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• 1996

Coptis rhizoma was extracted with methanol or hot water. Methanol extracts had higher berberine content than water extracts, whereas the contents of Ca, Mg, Zn and K were higher in the water extracts. Rats were fed on the purified diets rich in 0.12% cholesterol only or supplemented with 0.5% of each extracts for four weeks. The concentration of total serum cholesterol was significantly lower in the rats given the extracts, irrespective of the extractants. Although the concentration of serum HDL-cholesterol was comparable among the groups, the ratio of HDL-/total-cholesterol was higher in rats given the extracts. The concentration of serum free fatty acids and ketone body were significantly elevated in rats given the extracts. On the other hand, the extracts supplements significantly decreased the contents of liver cholesterol and triacylglycerol. The amount of fecal bile acids was markedly higher in rats given the extracts, especially in those given water extracts. The results show an effective hypocholesterolemic action of Coptis rhizoma and it seems that the lower concentration of serum and liver cholesterol is resulted from the increased fecal bile acids in rats.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.827-835
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• 2009

Insulin has crucial roles in energy metabolism in all mammals but has been less studied in ruminants. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of hypoinsulinemia induction on appetite, performance, carcass composition and blood metabolite levels in sheep. Treatments were intravenous injection of four doses of streptozotocin; 0, 25, 50 and 75 mg/kg BW named C, L, M and H, respectively. Twenty male lambs were divided into four treatment groups. Animals in group H could not continue the experiment because of abnormalities. The duration of the experiment was eight consecutive weeks, and injection was performed at the end of week 3. Feed and water intakes were measured weekly and weight changes of animals were recorded and used for calculation of other growth parameters. Blood samples were collected weekly via venipuncture at fasting and 2.5 h post-prandial and analyzed for hormones and blood metabolites. Results showed a marked hypoinsulinemia in group M with significant decrease in fasted and postprandial insulin concentrations and also fasted leptin concentrations vs. the control group C (p<0.05). Group M showed significant increases in blood glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol, total protein, blood urea nitrogen and ketone body levels vs. group C (p<0.05). After injection, animals in group M showed diabetic hyperphagia and enhanced water intake as compared to group C (p<0.05) but, despite increased feed intake, they did not gain more weight than controls (p<0.05), and consequently, their feed conversion ratio was greater. Protein and fat contents of meat and liver were not significantly different among groups (p>0.05). In conclusion, the results suggested a regulatory role of insulin in energy metabolism of ruminants by exerting two opposing effects; central catabolic and peripheral anabolic.