TY - JOUR A2 - Kimura, Yoshiyuki AU - Wang, Jianwei AU - Rong, Xianglu AU - Um, Irene S. I. AU - Yamahara, Johji AU - Li, Yuhao PY - 2012 DA - 2011/12/28 TI - 55-Week Treatment of Mice with the Unani and Ayurvedic Medicine Pomegranate Flower Ameliorates Ageing-Associated Insulin Resistance and Skin Abnormalities SP - 350125 VL - 2012 AB - PPARs play a pivotal role in regulating lipid and glucose homeostasis and are involved in diverse biological activities in skin. Pomegranate flower (PGF, an antidiabetic therapy in Unani and Ayurvedic medicines) has been previously demonstrated to activate both PPARalpha/gamma. Here, we found that treatment of mice with the diet containing PGF powder over 55 weeks attenuated ageing-induced abnormal increases in the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance, glucose concentrations during oral glucose tolerance test, and adipose insulin resistance index. The diet tended to decrease the excessive peri-ovary fat mass. It, however, increased the thinned subcutaneous fat thickness. In addition, the diet restored decreases in skin water content, epidermis thickness, and collagen density in corium. Thus, our results demonstrate that long-term treatment with the Unani and Ayurvedic therapy ameliorates ageing-induced insulin resistance, which is associated with reversal of ageing-induced fat redistribution. Further, PGF attenuates ageing-mediated undesirable skin abnormalities. SN - 1741-427X UR - https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/350125 DO - 10.1155/2012/350125 JF - Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine PB - Hindawi Publishing Corporation KW - ER -