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Updated: May 1, 2026

Glucose Uptake Measurement and Response to Insulin Stimulation in In Vitro Cultured Human Primary Myotubes
Published on: June 25, 2017
[Inhibitory action of berberine on glucose absorption]
Guo-yu Pan1, Guang-ji Wang, Jian-guo Sun
1Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics Research Center, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China. panguoyu@hotmail.com
Aim:
To study the absorption characteristics of berberine and its influence on glucose absorption.
Methods:
Rat recirculating perfusion model was used to study berberine absorption characteristics and Caco-2 cell model was used to explore the influence of berberine on disaccharidase, using HPLC to assay the appearance of glucose to indicate enzyme activities.
Results:
Berberine was found to be hardly absorbed in the intestine (less than 5% in 2.5 h). However, sucrase and maltase activities were found to be inhibited by berberine, its ID50 to sucrase is 1.830 mg.L-1, and showed no dose dependent influence on maltase activity. Berberine also showed influence on glucose absorption. However, this effect is not significant.
Conclusion:
Berberine may act as an alpha-glucosidase inhibitor, which is its main mechanism in diabetes treatment.
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