Hypoglycemic effects of glabridin, a polyphenolic flavonoid from licorice, in an animal model of diabetes mellitus.

The present study was designed to investigate the hypoglycemic effects of glabridin from licorice in an animal model of diabetes mellitus (DM). Male Kunming mice were used to induce DM using streptozotocin (STZ). After confirmation of the diabetic state, the mice were randomly divided into six groups of 10 animals each: normal control (NC), diabetic control (DC), diabetic + low-dose glabridin treatment (DLG) (glabridin, 10 mg/kg), diabetic + medium‑dose glabridin treatment (DMG) (glabridin, 20 mg/kg), diabetic + high-dose glabridin treatment (DHG) (glabridin, 40 mg/kg) and diabetic + glyburide treatment group (DG) (glyburide, 4 mg/kg). Each treatment was continued daily for 28 days, and then body weight, fasting blood glucose (FBG), glucose tolerance, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured. The data obtained showed that glabridin significantly increased body weight, glucose tolerance and SOD activities in the liver, kidney and pancreas, while decreasing FBG levels and MDA content in the liver, kidney and pancreas. These results demonstrated that glabridin possesses hypoglycemic effects.