Hypoglycaemic effects of fermented mycelium of Paecilomyces farinosus (G30801) on high-fat fed rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes

Background & objectives: Paceilomyces farinosus is an entomogenous fungus with a powerful insecticidal activity against the larvae of Lipidoptera, Coleoptera and Hymenoptera. However, the hypoglycaemic activity of P farinosus extract has not been studied. This study was undertaken to investigate the hypoglycaemic and anti-diabetic effects of P farinosus (G30801) in rats with streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes given a high-fat and compared with normal rats. Methods: Rats fed with high fat diet for 2 months and injected with (30 or 50 mg STZ/kg bw) showed raised level of plasma triglyceride (TG), cholesterol, D-glucose concentration and glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1C) %. The STZ-induced type 1 (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in rats was further confirmed using glucose tolerance test and insulin-glucose tolerance test. P farinosus (G30801) was fermented in different media [soybean (S), black bean (B), and rice (R)] and their extracts were tested for hypoglycaemic effect using T1DM and T2DM rats. Results: STZ (30 and 50 mg/kg bw) could successfully induce T2DM and T1DM in rats, respectively. No change in blood glucose levels were noted in P farinosus (R medium) treated normal rats (P < 0.05). In addition, STZ-high fat fed diabetic (T1DM and T2DM) rats when treated with P farinosus (R medium) showed decreased blood glucose level as compared with P farinosus extracted from B and S medium. Interpretation & conclusions: Our findings showed hypoglycaemic effect of fermented P farinosus (G30801) in experimental diabetes rat model fed with high fat diet.