Effects and Underlying Mechanisms of Bioactive Compounds on Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Alzheimer’s Disease

Figure 1

Functions of bioactive compounds in T2DM and AD pathogenesis. (1) Shared characteristics of T2DM and AD including insulin resistance, inflammation, and oxidative stress. (2) Some bioactive compounds can ameliorate hyperglycemia by activating AMPK, increasing GLUT4 translocation, inhibiting PEPCK and G6Pase activities, or activating SIRT1. (3) Some bioactive compounds can preserve functional β-cell mass by increasing β-cell proliferation or decreasing apoptosis. (4) Through activation of the PI3K/Akt pathway, some bioactive compounds improved insulin resistance. (5) Bioactive compounds attenuate oxidative stress via reducing NO, iNOS, and COX-2 levels or/and increasing the expression of antioxidant enzymes. (6) Most bioactive compounds could ameliorate inflammation which in turn improves T2DM and AD pathology. (7) Bioactive compounds can decrease Aβ production or assemble them into nontoxic aggregates, thereby decreasing formation of amyloid plaques. (8) Some bioactive compounds reduce NFT levels by inhibiting tau hyperphosphorylation. References: [46, 47, 50, 54, 55, 59, 61, 62, 64, 72, 75, 77, 81, 89, 93, 98, 101, 103, 108, 110, 116, 117, 121, 123, 126, 132, 133, 139, 140, 147, 149, 151, 152, 159, 162, 169, 175, 180, 183, 186, 189, 194–196, 200, 204, 215, 217, 227, 231, 234].