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Hypoglycemic effects of mountain caviar extract and inhibitory mechanism of saponins, including momordin Ic, on glucose absorption

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Abstract

Mountain caviar is a fruit of Kochia scoparia that contains momordin Ic as a major saponin constituent. Its extract (MCE) has been shown to suppress blood glucose elevations in the human oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) as well as increases in blood glucose in OGTT, gastric emptying (GE), and glucose incorporation in the small intestine in rats. However, the effects of MCE and momordin Ic on glucose absorption in mice and these action mechanisms have not been examined for more than 2 decades. Therefore, we herein investigated the effects of MCE, its saponin fraction, and momordin Ic on blood glucose elevations in mice. Mouse blood glucose elevation tests were performed on carbohydrate-loaded mice. The mountain caviar saponin fraction significantly delayed blood glucose elevations in glucose-, sucrose-, and soluble starch-loaded mice. In glucose-loaded mice, the saponin fraction, MCE, and momordin Ic significantly suppressed rapid glucose elevations after glucose loading, but not sucrose loading. A mouse GE study was performed by loading with glucose and phenolphthalein solution. Momordin Ic and MCE strongly suppressed mouse GE. Intestinal glucose absorption was evaluated by the incorporation of 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) into Caco-2 cell layers and mouse duodenum wall vesicles. The results obtained showed that momordin Ic inhibited the incorporation of 2-DG into Caco-2 cells and mouse duodenum vesicles. Collectively, these results suggest that MCE, particularly the principal saponin, momordin Ic, preferably suppressed glucose-induced blood glucose elevations and delayed carbohydrate-induced glucose elevations in mice. The underlying mechanism was found to involve the suppression of GE and intestinal glucose absorption.

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Funding

The study was funded by a research and development grant from Aichi prefecture, Japan in 2022 (5 Sankagi 84-12) and Oryza Oil & Fat Chemical Ltd. R.H., Y.M., and M.T. have no personal financial interests from Oryza Oil & Fat Chemical. Co. Ltd.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oryza Oil & Fat Chemical Co., Ltd. 1 Numata, Kitagata-cho, Ichinomiya, Aichi, 493-8001, Japan

    Kenchi Miyasaka, Jianbo Wu, Shogo Takeda & Hiroshi Shimoda

  2. Pharmaceutical Research and Technology Institute, Kindai University, 3-4-1, Kowakae, Higashi-Osaka, 577-8501, Japan

    Ryuya Takada, Yoshiaki Manse & Toshio Morikawa

  3. Antiaging Center, Kindai University, 3-4-1, Kowakae, Higashi-Osaka, 577-8501, Japan

    Toshio Morikawa

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  1. Kenchi Miyasaka
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Contributions

M.K., J.W., R.T., and H. S. performed mouse experiments. M.K. performed cell-based experiments. S. S.T. and H.S. purified the compounds and Y.M. and T.M. identified the chemical structures. H. S. wrote main manuscript, coordinated the study, and obtained the research fund. Y. M and T. M supervised the study.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hiroshi Shimoda.

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Conflict of interest

M.K., S.T., and H.S. are current employees of Oryza Oil & Fat Chemical Co., Ltd. J.W. is an ex-employee of Oryza Oil & Fat Chemical Co., Ltd. R.H. and Y.M. declare no conflicts of interest. T.M. is an editorial board member of this journal.

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Miyasaka, K., Takada, R., Wu, J. et al. Hypoglycemic effects of mountain caviar extract and inhibitory mechanism of saponins, including momordin Ic, on glucose absorption. J Nat Med (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11418-024-01791-5

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