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Astaxanthin alleviates gestational diabetes mellitus in mice through suppression of oxidative stress

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Abstract

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) affects 7% of pregnant women worldwide, which increases the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease for both the mother and the fetus. Natural compound Astaxanthin has been reported to have benefits in obesity and diabetes. A pregnant C57BL/KsJ db/+ mouse was used as a genetic GDM model to investigate the effect of Astaxanthin on GDM symptoms and reproductive outcomes. Blood glucose, plasma insulin, glucose intolerance, insulin sensitivity, biochemical indexes of plasma, and the liver were measured; Nrf2 and HO-1 protein levels were detected by Western blotting. Astaxanthin significantly alleviated the glucose intolerance and β cell insufficiency, inhibited in vivo oxidative stress, enhanced the activity of antioxidant enzymes, and improved reproductive outcomes. Mechanistically, the effect of Astaxanthin was mediated by restoring the Nrf2/HO-1 antioxidant pathway in the liver of GDM mice. Our findings supported that Astaxanthin was a potential therapeutic reagent for not only diabetes but also GDM symptomology.

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Funding

This study was funded by the Project of Yantai City, grant number: 2018SFGY101.

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Author notes

  1. Yangyang Chen, Jichun Tang and Yinghong Zhang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics, The Affiliated Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital of Qingdao University, No. 20 Yuhuangding East Road, Yantai, 264000, Shandong, China

    Yangyang Chen, Yinghong Zhang, Yuanli Wang, Hui Yu & Yanling He

  2. Department of Obstetrics, Penglai Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Penglai, 265600, Shandong, China

    Jichun Tang

  3. Department of Obstetrics, Yantai Zhifu District Maternal and Child Health Hospital, No. 78 Huanshan Road, Zhifu District, Yantai, 264000, Shandong, China

    Juan Du

Authors
  1. Yangyang Chen
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  4. Juan Du
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Contributions

Yangyang Chen, Jichun Tang, and Yinghong Zhang conceptualized the study and conducted the literature review for all databases. Juan Du, Yuanli Wang, and Hui Yu performed all statistical analyses. Yanling He drafted the paper. Yanling He provided useful additional intellectual content into the draft and contributed to the writing of the final version of the paper. The experiments were performed in-house, and no paper mill was used.

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Correspondence to Yanling He.

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Chen, Y., Tang, J., Zhang, Y. et al. Astaxanthin alleviates gestational diabetes mellitus in mice through suppression of oxidative stress. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol 393, 2517–2527 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00210-020-01861-x

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