Xanthohumol can be a therapeutic agent against liver metabolic changes in type 1 diabetes. - GreenMedInfo Summary

Diabetes exhibits imbalanced inflammation, angiogenesis and apoptosis, three processes attenuated by xanthohumol (XN). In this work, we propose to evaluate the effect of XN-enriched stout beer consumption in the hepatic glucolipid metabolism imbalance seen in type 1 diabetes (T1D). Wistar rats were divided into five groups: diabetic rats (induced with streptozotocin) drinking water; treated with 5% ethanol; stout beer; stout beer supplemented with 10 mg XN/L; and healthy rats drinking water. Hepatic PAS, Reticulin, Sirius Red, and Oil Red O histological staining were performed and quantified. Expression of Acetyl-coA Carboxylase, Fatty Acid Synthase, and GLUT2 levels were evaluated by Western blotting. Increased fibrosis observed in T1D animals was significantly decreased to control levels by XN (3.85± 0.38 in T1D-Beer vs 1.78 ± 0.27 in healthy controls, p<0.05) (2.27± 0.69 in T1D-Beer+XN vs 1.78 ± 0.27 in controls, p>0.05). An identical profile was found for reticulin staining, which was increased in T1D livers (9.74± 3.78 in T1D-Beer, p<0.05 vs control), and reduced by XN consumption (4.45± 1.05 in T1D-Beer+XN vs 4.60 ± 0.20 in healthy controls, p>0.05). XN consumption interfered with liver catabolic state seen in T1D, reversing glycogen depletion (22.09± 7.70 in T1D-Beer+XN vs 4.68 ± 4.84 in T1D-Beer, p<0.05) and GLUT2 upregulation (1.71± 0.46 in T1D-Beer-XN vs 2.13 ± 0.34 in T1D-Beer, p<0.05) and enhancing lipogenesis (1.19± 0.11 in T1D-Beer-XN vs 1.96 ± 0.36 in T1D, p<0.05, for ACC; 1.10± 0.04 in T1D-Beer-XN vs 0.44 ± 0.31 in T1D, p<0.05 for FAS). Altogether these findings reveal that XN can be a therapeutic agent against liver metabolic changes in T1D, playing a possible role in the insulin receptor pathways.