Effect of Bushen Huatan Recipe on the Akt signal pathway in polycystic ovarian syndrome model rats with insulin resistance: an experimental research / 中国中西医结合杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effect of Bushen Huatan Recipe (BHR) on the Akt signal pathway in polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) model rats with insulin resistance (IR).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fifty Wistar female PCOS rats were randomly and equally divided into 5 groups, i.e., the control group, the model group, the low dose BHR group (5.406 g/kg), the medium dose BHR group (10.812 g/kg), and the high dose BHR group (21.624 g/kg), 10 in each group. Levels of fasting blood glucose (FBG) and insulin were detected to calculate homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). The expression of insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1), glycogen synthetase kinase-3beta (GSK-3beta), glucose transporter 4 (GLUT-4), and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (PPAR-gamma) mRNA were detected by RT-PCR. The expression of insulin signal transduction molecular kinase B (Akt) was detected by Western blot.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the control group, HOMA-IR and the mRNA expression of PPAR-gamma mRNA significantly increased, the mRNA expression of GSK-3beta, GLUT-4, and IRS-1, protein expression of Akt and p-Akt significantly decreased in the model group (P < 0.05). Compared with the model group, HOMA-IR significantly decreased, the mRNA expression of GSK-3beta, GLUT-4, IRS-1, and Akt protein significantly increased in the high dose BHR group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). The mRNA expression of p-Akt protein increased more obviously (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). mRNA expression of GSK- 3beta and GLUT-4 significantly increased (P < 0.05), while the mRNA expression of PPAR-gamma significantly decreased in the low and middle BHR groups (P < 0.05). The expression of p-Akt significantly increased in the low dose BHR group (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>IR and abnormal insulin signal pathway existed in PCOS model rats. BHR could improve IR of PCOS rats, which was correlated with regulating protein expression of insulin signal transduction molecules.</p>