CRCAM Journal

Abstract

To investigate the potential effects of ethanol extract of propolis (EEP) on glucose metabolism in MIN6 cells. EEP was obtained by treating propolis with anhydrous ethanol. The optimal safe concentration of EEP against MIN6 cells was determined to be 50 μg/ mL by the MTT method. The main measurement indexes included insulin secretion, glucose uptake and apoptosis rate under low and high glucose conditions. In addition, the levels of the differential metabolites in MIN6 cells were identified by metabolomics. EEP can effectively promote the proliferation of MIN6 cells. Under low glucose conditions, glucose uptake increased; under high glucose conditions, insulin secretion of MIN6 cells was enhanced, while the apoptosis rate was reduced. Moreover, after EEP treatment, the differential metabolites of low glucose group and high glucose group were mainly amino acids, carbohydrate and organic acids. EEP protected and promoted insulin secretion in MIN6 cells under high glucose conditions, which is associated with amino acid metabolism, mitochondrial metabolism, nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism, and bile acid metabolism. EEP was significantly improves the glucose uptake and insulin secretion in MIN6 cells. It mainly regulated metabolites of MIN6 cells such as amino acids, carbohydrate, organic acids etc.