2285_ftp.pdf

PHYTOTHERAPY RESEARCH Phytother. Res. 22, 190–196 (2008) Published online 29 August 2007 in Wiley InterScience 190 J. Y-W. CHAN ET AL. () DOI: 10.1002/ptr.2285 Protective Effects of an Herbal Formulation of Radix Astragali, Radix Codonopsis and Cortex Lycii on Streptozotocin-induced Apoptosis in ββ Pancreatic β -cells: An Implication for its ββ Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus 1,2 1 1,3 1,2 Judy Yuet-Wa Chan , Ping-Chung Leung , Chun-Tao Che and Kwok-Pui Fung * 1Institute of Chinese Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China 2Department of Biochemistry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China 3School of Chinese Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China Hyperglycemia is one of the main causes of oxidative stress in type 2 diabetes mellitus. During hyperglycemia, the increased level of various reducing sugars in the blood enhances the production of reactive oxygen species ββ (ROS) and triggers tissue damage, especially in pancreatic β-cells. Streptozotocin (STZ) is a diabetogen that ββ causes diabetes mellitus via ROS-induced apoptosis in ββ β-cells. In this study, SR10, an herbal f