Coriolus versicolor aqueous extract ameliorates insulin resistance with PI3K/Akt and p38 MAPK signaling pathways involved in diabetic skeletal muscle.

Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are usually with poor immunity and easier to suffer from cancer and microbial infections. Herein, we report an efficient anti-diabetic medicinal mushroom, Coriolus versicolor (CV). This study aimed to investigate the anti-diabetic and anti-insulin-resistance effects of CV aqueous extract in myoblasts (L6 cells) and skeletal muscle of T2DM rat. Our results showed that CV extract treatment significantly reduced blood glucose levels of T2DM rats, whereas CV extract increased glucose consumption in insulin resistant L6 cells. Besides, the translocation and expression of glucose transporter 4 were enhanced by CV extract, which indicated that CV extract was effective in diabetic skeletal muscle. Moreover, CV extract treatments resulted in remarkable anti-insulin-resistance effects, which was reflected by the change of gene and protein expression levels in PI3K/Akt and p38 MAPK pathways. PI3K inhibitor, LY29004, and p38 MAPK inhibitor, SB203580 confirmed it further. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that the CV extract exhibited anti-diabetic and anti-insulin-resistance effects in diabetic skeletal muscle, and the effects were mediated by PI3K/Akt and p38 MAPK pathways. These findings are remarkable when considering the use of commercially available CV by diabetic patients who also suffer from cancer or microbial infections.

Mean platelet volume is negatively associated with bone mineral density in postmenopausal women.

Osteoporosis (OP) has been associated with cardiovascular disease. More specifically, osteoporosis was found to be an independent predictor of cardiovascular mortality. Recent studies revealed that platelets play a critical role in bone remodeling. Mean platelet volume (MPV) is an early marker of platelet activation, which is involved in the pathophysiology of coronary heart disease. However, little research has been conducted to investigate the relationship between MPV and OP. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated the relationship between platelet count, MPV, and bone mineral density (BMD) in 410 subjects in the geriatric department of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Harbin, China. Different biochemical parameters, platelet count, and MPV were determined, and bone mineral density (BMD) (g/cm(2)) was measured in the osteoporosis, osteopenia, and normal BMD groups. Mean age, systolic blood pressure (SBP), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), and MPV increased gradually, and body mass index (BMI), decreased as BMD decreased. A negative correlation was present between MPV and the lumbar spine (L2-L4) and femoral neck BMD after adjusting other risk factors. Univariate analysis and multivariate analysis showed that MPV was significantly associated with lumbar spine L2-L4 BMD and femoral neck BMD (ß = -0.285, P < 0.001 for lumbar spine L2-L4 BMD; ß = -0.207, P < 0.001 for femoral neck BMD in multivariate model). The findings show that MPV is negatively correlated with BMD. Further studies on the involvement of MPV in osteoporosis may contribute to the evaluation of thrombotic risk in elderly patients with osteoporosis.