Browsing by discipline "Metabolism"

A natural sweetener from Stevia rebaudiana has the potential to reduce calorie intake. Recent data suggest that glycosides from Stevia display favorable pharmacological properties for the metabolic syndrome. Skeletal muscle constitutes a major extrahepatic tissue responsible for glucose utilization. We studied whether steviol can modulate glucose uptake in L6 myocytes. Signaling targets that are central in regulating cellular glucose metabolism were assessed with western blotting. Our data show that the highest concentration of steviol tested decreased slightly and statistically significantly the glucose uptake rate in insulin-stimulated muscle cells. This was supported by western blotting data from targets Akt and GSK-3β. Therefore, our data suggest that direct exposure of myocytes to steviol causes insulin resistance. The results can aid in planning further experiments to understand the pharmacological effects of Stevia-derived products. This would ultimately enhance our understanding of the mechanism behind insulin resistance and be used in future drug development.