ABSTRACT
This study was aimed to explore the effect of total flavonoids and saponins from Huang-Qi Ge-Gen (HQGG) decoction on blood glucose (BG), serum lipid, interleukin-12 (IL-12) and interleukin-15 (IL-15) of liver in diabetes mellitus (DM) rats, in order to investigate their interactions in regulating DM processes. A total of 66 SD rats were randomly divided into 6 groups, which were the normal group, model group (A1B1), control group, total flavonoids group (A2B1), total saponins group (A1B2), and total flavonoids and saponins group (A2B2), with 11 rats in each group. Except the normal group, other groups were intraperitoneal injected with streptozotocin (STZ). And the experiment was according to 2×2 factorial design experiment scheme. The BG was determined before STZ injection and 7 days after the STZ injection. After 30 days, BG, serum lipid, IL-12 and IL-15 of liver were tested. Related indexes were calculated to the weighted composite score. Main and interactive effect of total flavonoids and saponins were studied according to the factorial design experiment scheme. The results showed that compared with the normal group, all indexes of model group showed statistical differences (P<0.05). Total flavonoids and saponins from HQGG decoction can effectively reduce BG, without any interactions between them. Both the total flavonoids and total saponins can reduce serum cholesterol (CHO), triglyceride (TG), liver IL-12 and IL-15. And there were interactive effects. The single use of herb achieved better effects than the combination. It was concluded that total flavonoids and saponins from HQGG decoction can reduce BG, CHO, TG, and liver IL-12 and IL-15 levels in rats. However, the regulation of total flavonoids and saponins on indexes mentioned above showed no additive effect.