Antidiabetic and Anti-inflammatory Properties of Some Selected Plant Leaves: A Transcriptomic Approach

Abstract

Transcriptomics is regarded as a high throughput technology that is concerned with determining how the transcriptome changes, based on various factors, at a certain time point and at a given biological state. This study investigated the expression levels of critical genes of interest in selected tissues of the pancreas, small intestine, kidney, and liver. In this study, male albino rats were placed on four different herbs-supplemented diets containing 30% and 70% respectively on each plant for seven days after which they were sacrificed by cervical dislocation. Tissues were collected and various gene expression assays were carried out including RNA extraction, conversion to cDNA, gene amplification, and gel electrophoresis. The results showed the genes expressed in the pancreas as Glut4, Insulin, CACNA1a and KCJN5. In the pancreas, Mangifera indica, Peperomia pellucida and Momordica foetida expressed insulin and KCJN5 genes in significant measures, (upregulated). In the small intestine, GLP-1 and GLUT-2 were expressed in all groups however at higher concentrations, except for P. pellucida which was expressed at low concentration (30%). In the kidney, the TNF-alpha gene was downregulated by all the extracts, while interleukin (IL1-alpha) was upregulated. In the liver, PFK1 and G6pD genes were expressed by all the extracts. It was observed that there is modulation of gene and transcriptomic alterations when normal rats were exposed to these selected herbs, with M. indica, P. pellucida and M. foetida showing to be less toxic, more promising, and effective in genes expressed in diabetic management. This study therefore might offer a key to unlocking new therapeutic targets for the treatment of diabetes and inflammation.