Received for publication January 25, 2007.
Revised March 15, 2007.
Accepted for publication April 11, 2007.

Anti-diabetes and anti-obesity effect of cryptotanshinone via activation of AMP-activated protein kinase

Abstract

Metabolic disorders, including type 2 diabetes and obesity, represent major health risks in industrialized countries. Recently, AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) has become the focus of a great deal of attention as a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of metabolic syndromes, as AMPK has been demonstrated to mediate, at least in part, the effects of a number of physiological and pharmacological factors that exert beneficial effects on these disorders. Thus, the identification of a compound that activates the AMPK pathway would contribute significantly to the treatment and management of such syndromes. In service of this goal, we have screened a variety of naturally occurring compounds, and have identified one compound, cryptotanshinone, as a novel AMPK pathway activator. Cryptotanshinone was originally isolated from the dried roots of Salvia militorrhiza, an herb which is used extensively in Oriental medicine, and which is known to exert beneficial effects on the circulatory system. For the first time, in the present study, we have described the potent anti-diabetic and anti-obesity effects of cryptotanshinone, both in vitro and in vivo. Our findings suggest that the activation of the AMPK pathway might contribute to the development of novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Key words: Protein Kinases (other), Cholesterol metabolism/lipoproteins

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