Ginsenoside Rd attenuated hyperglycemia via Akt pathway and modulated gut microbiota in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

Ginsenoside Rd is a protopanaxadiol abundant in Panax ginseng and Panax notoginseng. It has been reported that ginsenoside Rd possesses various health benefits, such as anti-diabetic, anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory. This work explored the effects of ginsenoside Rd on hyperglycemia and gut microbiota in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Results showed that 5-week ginsenoside Rd (20 mg/kg) treatment significantly improved hyper-glycemia in diabetic rats. Besides, ginsenoside Rd promoted glycogen synthesis via activating Akt pathway. It also inhibited hepatic gluconeogenesis, which was associated with inhibiting phosphoenolpyruvate carbox-ykinase and glucose-6-phosphatase. We further found that ginsenoside Rd treatment increased the diversity of gut microbiota, increased the abundance of beneficial bacteria, such as SMB53, rc4-4 and Ruminococcus, and reduced the abundance of conditional pathogenic bacteria. These results indicated that ginsenoside Rd has the potential for diabetic intervention.