Resveratrol ameliorates metabolic disorders and muscle wasting in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is characterized by dysregulated energy metabolism. Resveratrol (RSV) has been shown to ameliorate hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia in diabetic animals. However, its overall in vivo effects on energy metabolism and the underlying mechanism require further investigation. In the present study, electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry was employed to characterize the urine and plasma metabolomes of control, streptozotocin-induced DM and RSV-treated DM rats. Using principal component analysis (PCA) and heat map analysis, we discovered significant differences among control and experimental groups. RSV treatment significantly reduced the metabolic abnormalities in DM rats. Compared with the age-matched control rats, the level of carnitine was lower, and the levels of acetylcarnitine and butyrylcarnitine were higher in the urine and plasma of DM rats. RSV treatment ameliorated the deranged carnitine metabolism in DM rats. In addition, RSV treatment attenuated the diabetic ketoacidosis and muscle protein degradation, as evidenced from the attenuation of elevated urinary methyl-histidine and plasma branched-chain amino acids levels in DM rats. The beneficial effects of RSV in DM rats were correlated with activation of hepatic AMP-activated protein kinase and SIRT1 expression, increase of hepatic and muscular mitochondrial biogenesis and inhibition of muscle NF-κB activities. We concluded that RSV possesses multiple beneficial metabolic effects in insulin-deficient DM rats, particularly in improving energy metabolism and reducing protein wasting.