International journal of biological macromoleculesMay 10, 2024

Achyranthes bidentata polysaccharide improves type 2 diabetes by gut bacteria producing short-chain fatty acids that activate the GLP-1 hormone pathway

GLP-1 Therapies Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Mar 19, 2026

Abstract

Achyranthes bidentata polysaccharide (ABP) demonstrated a hypoglycemic effect in mice with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

ABP repaired the intestinal barrier in T2DM mice.
Treatment with ABP regulated the composition and abundance of gut microbiota, notably increasing bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs).
Increased levels of SCFAs were associated with higher glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) levels.
The abundance of specific gut bacteria showed a positive correlation with blood lipid and insulin levels, while being negatively correlated with fasting blood glucose levels.
The beneficial effects of ABP were linked to the activation of the GLP-1/GLP-1 receptor pathway and subsequent signaling cascades.

Simplified

Gut microbiota variances reflecting the severity type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Achyranthes bidentata polysaccharide (ABP) can regulate gut microbiota. However, the hypoglycemic effect and underlying mechanism of ABP remain unclear. Herein, we characterized the structure of ABP and revealed the hypoglycemic effect of ABP in mice with T2DM. ABP repaired the intestinal barrier in T2DM mice and regulated the composition and abundance of gut microbiota, especially increasing bacteria which producing short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), then increasing glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) level. The abundance of these bacteria was positively correlated with blood lipid and INS levels, negatively correlated with FBG levels. Colon transcriptome data and immunohistochemistry demonstrated that the alleviating T2DM effect of ABP was related to activation of the GLP-1/GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R)/cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)/protein kinase A (PKA)/cAMP-response element binding protein (CREB)/INS pathway. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) confirmed the transmissible efficacy of ABP through gut microbiota. Overall, our research shows that ABP plays a hypoglycemic role by increasing gut microbiota-derived SCFAs levels, and activating the GLP-1/GLP-1R/cAMP/PKA/CREB/INS pathway, emphasizing ABP as promising T2DM therapeutic candidates.

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Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

PubMed

Achyranthes bidentata polysaccharide improves type 2 diabetes by gut bacteria producing short-chain fatty acids that activate the GLP-1 hormone pathway

Abstract

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Competing interests

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Abstract

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