Erythritol attenuates postprandial blood glucose by inhibiting α-glucosidase
Abstract
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a serious metabolic disorder where impaired postprandial blood glucose regulation often leads to severe health complications. The natural chemical, erythritol is a C4 polyol approved by FDA for use as a sweetener. Here we examined a potential role for erythritol in the control of postprandial blood glucose levels in DM. An anti-postprandial hyperglycemia effect upon erythritol administration (500 mg kg-1) was demonstrated in alloxan-induced DM model mice by monitoring changes in blood glucose after intragastric administration of drugs and starch. We also found that erythritol most likely exerts its anti-postprandial hyperglycemic activities by inhibiting α-glucosidase in a competitive manner. This was supported by enzyme activity assays and molecular modelling experiments. In the latter experiments it was possible to successful dock erythritol into the catalytic pocket of α-glucosidase, with the resultant interaction likely to be driven by electrostatic interactions involving Asp 215, Asp69 and Arg446 residues. This study suggests that erythritol may not only serve as a glucose substitute but may also be a useful agent in the treatment of diabetes mellitus to help manage postprandial blood glucose levels.
Citation
Wen , H , Tang , B , Stewart , A J , Tao , Y , Shao , Y , Cui , Y , Yue , H , Pei , J , Liu , Z , Mei , L , Yu , R & Jiang , L 2018 , ' Erythritol attenuates postprandial blood glucose by inhibiting α-glucosidase ' , Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry , vol. 66 , no. 6 , pp. 1401-1407 . https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.7b05033
Publication
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0021-8561Type
Journal article
Description
This work was supported by grants from Natural Science Foundation of Qinghai (No. 2016-ZJ-942Q), West Light Foundation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. Y629071211), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31701243), International Cooperative Projects of Qinghai province (No. 2017-HZ-811), Project of Discovery, Evaluation and Transformation of Active Natural Compounds, Strategic Biological Resources Service Network Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. ZSTH-027), Major Special Science and Technology Projects in Qinghai Province (2014-GX-A3A-01).Collections
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