Forensic Research & Technology

AMPK is known to control glucose and lipid metabolism, two main candidates critical in the development of type-2 diabetes (T2D). Studies have shown that AMPK can be activated by adiponectin. Patients suff ering from T2D are known to have low adiponectin concentration in their blood plasma. In this study, we have assessed one of the anti-diabetic compounds oleanolic acid (OA), if it could produce desirable eff ect in upregulating adiponectin concentration and the subsequent regulation of AMPK. Sprague dawley rats were fed with high fructose diet (HFD) to induce T2D, and the rats that developed insulin resistance were considered as diseased, they were then treated with OA. Analysis of adiponectin concentration in blood plasma was done, AMPK gene expression and subsequent genes that play vital role in glucose and lipid metabolism (GLUT-4 and CPT-1) in skeletal muscle tissue was also performed. Th e results showed 1.19 fold increases in blood plasma adiponectin concentration aft er OA administration. Furthermore,AMPK gene expression showed 3.98 fold increase and GLUT-4 gene expression was increased by 1.5 fold whereas CTP-1 gene expression was increased by 1.59 fold. Th ese results clearly indicate that OA produced good eff ects in ameliorating insulin resistance since it was able to upregulate all the genes and adiponectin concentration which are well known to be abnormally suppressed in a situation of T2D. In conclusion, these studies further confi rms that OA can be used as an eff ective therapeutic agent to ameliorate T2D and these studies also suggest that OA’s mechanism of action could be through AMPK pathway