ArticleDiabetes2013
Rhein protects pancreatic β-cells from dynamin-related protein-1-mediated mitochondrial fission and cell apoptosis under hyperglycemia.
Article in Diabetes, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 71 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Significant Association Between Rhein and Diabetic Nephropathy in Animals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2019Pooled it
- Efficacy of Xiaokeqing granules and lifestyle intervention in treating prediabetes mellitus considering metabolomic biomarkers: A randomised controlled trial.World journal of diabetes · 2025Trial
- Intracellular Calcium Dysregulation: The Hidden Culprit in the Diabetes-Gout Nexus.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Article
- Analysis and Validation of Mitophagy-Related Genes in Diabetic Foot Ulcers.Journal of inflammation research · 2025Article
- Rhein: An Updated Review Concerning Its Biological Activity, Pharmacokinetics, Structure Optimization, and Future Pharmaceutical Applications.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Rhein Alleviates Doxorubicin-Induced Myocardial Injury by Inhibiting the p38 MAPK/HSP90/c-Jun/c-Fos Pathway-Mediated Apoptosis.Cardiovascular toxicology · 2024Article
- Rhein alleviates myocardial ischemic injury by inhibiting mitochondrial division, activating mitochondrial autophagy and suppressing myocardial cell apoptosis through the Drp1/Pink1/Parkin pathway.Molecular biology reports · 2024Article
- Potential Medicinal Value of Rhein for Diabetic Kidney Disease.Chinese journal of integrative medicine · 2023Review
- Mitochondrial dynamics in health and disease: mechanisms and potential targets.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2023Review
- Versatile Solid Modifications of Multicomponent Pharmaceutical Salts: Novel Metformin-Rhein Salts Based on Advantage Complementary Strategy Design.Pharmaceutics · 2023Article
- Natural compounds regulate the PI3K/Akt/GSK3β pathway in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury.Cell cycle (Georgetown, Tex.) · 2023Article
- Article
- Drp1 Overexpression Decreases Insulin Content in Pancreatic MIN6 Cells.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Research Progress on the Positive and Negative Regulatory Effects of Rhein on the Kidney: A Review of Its Molecular Targets.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Phenolic composition and neuroprotective effects of the ethyl-acetate fraction fromFood science and biotechnology · 2022Article
- Mitofusin 1 and 2 regulation of mitochondrial DNA content is a critical determinant of glucose homeostasis.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Chinmedomics Strategy for Elucidating the Pharmacological Effects and Discovering Bioactive Compounds From Keluoxin Against Diabetic Retinopathy.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- Rhein for treating diabetes mellitus: A pharmacological and mechanistic overview.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Review
- Rhein ameliorates transverse aortic constriction-induced cardiac hypertrophyFrontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Rhein, an anthraquinone compound isolated from rhubarb, has been shown to improve glucose metabolism disorders in diabetic mice. The mechanism underlying the protective effect of rhein, however, remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate that rhein can protect the pancreatic β-cells against hyperglycemia-induced cell apoptosis through stabilizing mitochondrial morphology. Oral administration of rhein for 8 or 16 weeks in db/db mice significantly reduced fasting blood glucose (FBG) level and improved glucose tolerance. Cell apoptosis assay using both pancreatic sections and cultured pancreatic β-cells indicated that rhein strongly inhibited β-cell apoptosis. Morphological study showed that rhein was mainly localized at β-cell mitochondria and rhein could preserve mitochondrial ultrastructure by abolishing hyperglycemia-induced mitochondrial fission protein dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1) expression. Western blot and functional analysis confirmed that rhein protected the pancreatic β-cells against hyperglycemia-induced apoptosis via suppressing mitochondrial Drp1 level. Finally, mechanistic study further suggested that decreased Drp1 level by rhein might be due to its effect on reducing cellular reactive oxygen species. Taken together, our study demonstrates for the first time that rhein can serve as a novel therapeutic agent for hyperglycemia treatment and rhein protects pancreatic β-cells from apoptosis by blocking the hyperglycemia-induced Drp1 expression.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.