ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of Pantago depressa var. montata. Extract (PDM) on the metabolisms of glucose and lipids in mice as well as the underlined mechanism.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Fasting serum glucose (FSG) in normal mice was determined after oral administration of PDM. The effects of PDM on diabetic mice induced by alloxan were investigated by observing the changes of glucose tolerance, the contents of FSG, glycosylated serum protein (GSP), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO) and the injured degree of pancreatic islet. Effects of PDM on the injured human umbilical vein endothelial cell lines (ECV304) induced by H2O2 were also investigated.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>PDM showed no any significant effect on FSG in normal mice. However, in the mice with diabetes induced by alloxan PDM could remarkably decrease serum glucose tolerance, the contents of FSG, GSP, TC, TG and LDL-C and significantly increased the ratio of HDL-C/TC, the activity of SOD and the concentration of NO. The damage of pancreatic islet induced by alloxan was also significantly attenuated by PDM. Furthermore, PDM promoted the viability of injured ECV304, elevated SOD level and reduced the contents of MDA.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The results in the present study suggest that PDM can significantly attenuate hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia in diabetic mice, which are probably due to its effects of antioxidation and amelioration of damaged pancreatic islet induced by free radicals.</p>