A plant compound has been found by researchers to have anti-diabetic effects in mice without most of the side effects that other diabetes drugs often demonstrate.

The compound - harmine - was first isolated more than 150 years ago from traditional plants used in ritual and medicinal preparations around the world.

[Harmine has been known to induce hallucinations, convulsions, and tremors.]

According to the researchers, their work suggests a new approach in the treatment of insulin resistance and validates that fat cell screens are promising strategy in the identification of new metabolic drugs.

According to Peter Tontonoz, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the University of California, Los Angeles:

"While harmine itself has effects on the central nervous system that may preclude its use, it may eventually be possible to separate the nervous system and metabolic effects of harmine through optimization of the chemical structure.

The class of drugs called thiazolidinediones or TZDs is currently often used for obesity-related diabetes. Though effective, the development and clinical use of TZDs is limited by adverse effects like fluid retention, weight gain, congestive heart failure, liver toxicity, and potential cancer risks.

Thus, alternative approaches to treating insulin resistance are needed.

TZDs restore insulin sensitivity by activating a central promoter of fat tissue production called peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ã (PPARã). This process allows storage of lipids that would otherwise deposit on other tissue, thereby causing disease.

In this particular study, harmine has been found to increase insulin sensitivity in mice by blocking a pathway that normally inhibits fat cells' production instead of triggering PPARã directly.

The authors concluded:

"Harmine inhibits an inhibitor for a net positive effect on fat that ultimately appears to restore insulin response without some of the side effects attributed to TZDs.

The findings provide "a second example of a small molecule that both promotes fat cell differentiation in vitro and improves glucose tolerance in vivo.

The biological activities of harmine and TZDs underscore the fact that links between fat tissue and insulin resistance are complex and are likely to involve not only changes in fat tissue differentiation and cell number but also changes in the fat cells' function."

Findings have been reported in the May issue of the journal Cell Metabolism.

Read the full report.

[Photo Credit: Erowid]