Alexander Gosslau
The City University of New York, USA
Title: Effects of two natural enriched plant extracts against type 2 diabetes
Biography
Biography: Alexander Gosslau
Abstract
There is mounting evidence that chronic inflammation in type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a leading cause of the progression of the disease. T2D is linked to aging and obesity, also occurring at epidemic rates worldwide, causing chronic low-grade inflammation through macrophage infiltration thus contributing to T2D. Complications of T2D resulting from low-grade inflammation are related to chronic hyperglycemia and its induced formation of advanced glycation end products (AGE) and reactive oxygen species (ROS). The activation of transcription factor NFkB leads to transcription of inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, and adipokines which exacerbates this pathological state by positive feedback mechanism leading to cell damage and organ pathology such as nephropathy, cardiovascular disease, retinopathy and neuropathy. Current therapies against diabetes involve control of glucose or insulin resistance (e.g. metformin, pioglitazone) and pharmacological anti-inflammatory regimens (e.g. aspirin, ibuprofen) designed to target specific steps in the inflammation cascade. Current drugs have well known side effects, particularly GI and cardiovascular side effects that are likely to be prohibitive for chronic use. Consequently, natural compounds or extracts effective against T2D with potentially lesser side effects may be advantageous for long-term therapy. We developed an enriched black tea extract and orange peel extract which showed strong anti-inflammatory effects at an early stage in the inflammatory cascade as demonstrated throughout cell-based in vitro, animal in vivo as well as in human pilot studies. Anti-diabetic regimens affecting different pathways as promising strategy against type 2 diabetes are discussed.