Abstract
Purpose
Diabetic complications are a major concern to manage progression of diabetes. Production of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) due to high blood glucose is one of the mechanisms leading to diabetic complications. Multiple pharmacologic AGE inhibitory agents are currently under development, but clinical applications are still limited due to safety issues. Thus, it is necessary to identify a safe anti-glycation agent. It is known that burdock roots have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer activities. The objective of the present study was to investigate the inhibitory role of burdock roots on the formation of high glucose-induced glycation of bovine serum albumin (BSA).
Methods
In this study, glycation of BSA by glucose, galactose, or fructose at 37 ° C for 3 weeks was assessed based on levels of α-dicarbonyl compounds (early-stage glycation products), fructosamine (intermediate products of glycation), and fluorescent AGEs (late-stage glycation products). In order to compare the inhibitory actions of burdock root extract in AGE formation, aminoguanidine (AG), a pharmacological AGE inhibitor, was used as a positive control.
Results
BSA glycation by glucose, fructose, and galatose was dose- and time-dependently produced. Burdock root extract at a concentration of 4 mg/mL almost completely inhibited glucose-induced BSA glycation. The results demonstrate that burdock root extract inhibited AGE formation with an IC50 value of 1.534 mg/mL, and inhibitory activity was found to be more effective than the standard anti-glycation agent aminoguanidine. This study identified a novel function of burdock root as a potential anti-glycation agent.
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![]() | Fig. 1.Measurement of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) production from incubation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) with three different sugars including glucose, fructose, and galactose. BSA (42 g/L) was incubated with 25 mM glucose, 25 mM fructose, or 25 mM galactose in 20 mM phosphate buffer saline (pH 7.4) at 37°C for 3 weeks. (A) In order to measure AGE production, fluorescence intensity was detected using excitation at 355 nm and emission at 460 nm every week. (B) Fructosamine formation was estimated using NBT test described in material and method section. All data were obtained from at least 3 independent experiments. The data represent the means ± SD (n = 6) and values are expressed as arbitrary unit (AU). For each incubation time, means sharing the same letter are not significantly different at 5% level. |
![]() | Fig. 2.The effects of glucose concentration on advanced glycation end products (AGEs) generation in bovine serum albumin (BSA)/glucose system. In order to estimate the effect of glucose concentrations on formation of AGEs, BSA (42 g/L) was incubated with different concentrations (5.6, 11, and 25 mM) of glucose in 20 mM phosphate buffer saline (pH 7.4) at 37 ° C for 3 weeks. (A) Fluorescence intensity of AGEs was measured using excitation at 355 nm and emission at 460 nm each week. (B) Fructosamine formation was characterized by absorbance at 530 nm every week. The data represent the means ± SD (n = 6) and values are expressed as arbitrary unit (AU). For each incubation time, means sharing the same letter are not significantly different at 5% level. |
![]() | Fig. 3.Inhibitory effect of burdock root extract on advanced glycation end products (AGEs) production from incubation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) with different concentrations of glucose. In order to examine the effect of burdock root extract on BSA (42 g/L) glycation with different concentrations (5.6, 11, and 25 mM) of glucose in 20 mM phosphate buffer saline (pH 7.4), 2 mg/mL concentration of burdock root extract was incubated with BSA-glucose system at 37°C for 3 weeks. Aminoguanidine (1 mM) was used as a positive control. Inhibition of AGE formation by burdock root extract was determined at 3 weeks of incubation by fluorimetric (A), NBT (B), and Girard-T (C) assays. All data were obtained from at least 3 independent experiments. The data represent the means ± SD (n = 6). For each glucose concentration, means sharing the same letter are not significantly different. |
![]() | Fig. 4.Anti-glycation activity of different concentrations of burdock root extract during 3 weeks of incubation. BSA (42 g/L) was incubated with 25 mM glucose in the absence (which is a control in the figure) and presence of different concentrations (1, 2, and 4 mg/mL) of burdock root extract at 37°C for 3 weeks. Aminoguanidine (1 mM) was used as a positive control. Fluorescence intensity (A) and fructosamine formation (B) were analyzed. All data were obtained from at least 3 independent experiments. For each incubation time, means sharing the same letter are not significantly different determined by Bonferroni's multiple comparison test (p > 0.05). |
Table. 1.
Inhibitory effect of burdock root extract on advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and fructosamine formation from incubation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) with three different monosaccharides at 3 weeks of incubation
Treatment |
Conc.1) |
AGEs |
Fructosamine |
|||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Formation | Inhibition | Formation | Inhibition | |||
(AU)2) | (%) | (AU) | (%) | |||
Glucose | Control | 5,084 ± 1,821a | 0 ± 3.54 | 0.35 ± 0.01ab | 0 ± 2.51 | |
Burdock | 2 mg/mL | 1,576 ± 1,204b | 69.76 ± 8.08 | 0.15 ± 0.01b | 58.08 ± 0.63 | |
AG3) | 1 mM | 2,434 ± 112b | 52.52 ± 2.39 | 0.21 ± 0.02b | 39.94 ± 1.99 | |
Fructose | Control | 6,527 ± 459a | 0 ± 1.24 | 0.52 ± 0.02a | 0 ± 3.45 | |
Burdock | 2 mg/mL | 3,263 ± 263b | 50.13 ± 3.98 | 0.29 ± 0.02b | 44.45 ± 1.63 | |
AG | 1 mM | 4,046 ± 202b | 38.88 ± 3.00 | 0.34 ± 0.09b | 34.11 ± 6.69 | |
Galactose | Control | 5,755 ± 294a | 0 ± 2.41 | 0.42 ± 0.01a | 0 ± 5.64 | |
Burdock | 2 mg/mL | 2,935 ± 1,092c | 49.93 ± 7.11 | 0.26 ± 0.03b | 39.42 ± 3.98 | |
AG | 1 mM | 3,683 ± 1,145b | 36.76 ± 7.40 | 0.32 ± 0.08ab | 23.60 ± 5.77 |