Transcriptomic analysis reveals effects of fucoxanthin on intestinal glucose transport

Fucoxanthin, one of carotenoid pigments from plants and algae, is known to regulate blood glucose and insulin levels. The mechanism of its hypoglycemic activity has drawn a lot of scientific interest in recent years. In this study, we investigated the effects of fucoxanthin on intestinal glucose transport using a murine model. Our data demonstrated that fucoxanthin was able to decrease blood glucose level and alleviate insulin resistance significantly. The results from RNA-seq based transcriptomic analysis, suggested that fucoxanthin acted as a key regulator in Insulin/PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling and PKA/AMPK/mTOR signaling pathways. Moreover, fucoxanthin ingestion resulted in a significant reduction in the protein expression of intestinal glucose transporters, such as SGLT-1, and led to decreased translocation of GLUT-2, which contributed to the regulation of blood glucose level. Together, our findings provided a mechanistic insight into the regulatory effect of fucoxanthin on blood glucose.