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CC BY 4.0 · Chinese medicine and natural products 2025; 05(02): e94-e100
DOI: 10.1055/s-0045-1809320
Review Article

Research Progress on the Protective Effects of Active Components of Huangqi (Astragali Radix) on Pancreatic β-Cells

Liyi Yan
1   Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
,
Zhenhua Li
2   Scientific Research Department, Affiliated Hospital of Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xianyang, Shaanxi, China
,
Yuan Chen
1   Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
3   Endocrinology Department 2, Affiliated Hospital of Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xianyang, Shaanxi, China
› Author Affiliations
Funding This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (81774304), Shaanxi Traditional Chinese Medicine Administration Research Project (SZY-KJCYC-2025-JC-016), Qinchuangyuan Traditional Chinese Medicine Industrial Innovation Cluster Project (L2024-QCY-ZYYJJQ-X85), and Xianyang Science and Technology Bureau Key R&D Program (L2022ZDYFSF003).
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Abstract

The potential application of Huangqi (Astragali Radix) in the treatment of diabetes mellitus (DM) has garnered increasing attention. β-cell dysfunction is one of the core mechanisms in the pathogenesis of DM and effectively protecting and restoring pancreatic β-cell function remains a key challenge in DM prevention and treatment. Studies have shown that the active components of Huangqi (Astragali Radix) can alleviate glucolipotoxicity-induced β-cell damage by promoting glucose uptake mediated by glucose transporter 4 (GLUT-4), inhibiting the Wnt1/β-catenin signaling pathway to reduce lipid deposition in liver and pancreatic tissues and upregulating peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα) gene expression. Additionally, Huangqi (Astragali Radix) can reduce cell apoptosis by mitigating endoplasmic reticulum stress, suppress pyroptosis via the NF-κB/NLRP3/TXNIP signaling pathway, and inhibit ferroptosis and autophagy to decrease β-cell death. Furthermore, Huangqi (Astragali Radix) can promote β-cell proliferation by modulating dedifferentiation and transdifferentiation, improve the islet microenvironment by regulating immune function and reducing M1 macrophage polarization, and may delay β-cell senescence. This review summarizes the research progress of active ingredients in Huangqi (Astragali Radix) in protecting pancreatic β-cell, which provides new insights and a scientific basis for its future application in DM prevention and treatment.

Keywords

Huangqi - Astragali Radix - pancreatic β-cells - diabetes mellitus - glucose and lipid metabolism - cell death - senescence

CRediT Authorship Contribution Statement

Liyi Yan: Investigation, and writing-original draft. Zhenhua Li: Supervision, and writing-review & editing. Yuan Chen: Conceptualization, funding acquisition, and writing-review & editing.




Publication History

Received: 02 January 2025

Accepted: 28 February 2025

Article published online:
27 June 2025

© 2025. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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