Glucose uptake enhancing activity of puerarin and the role of C-glucoside suggested from activity of related compounds

Chemical treatment of diabetes mellitus is widely studied and controlling of blood glucose level is the main course of therapy. In type 2 diabetes mellitus, insulin resistance is the major problem. An isoflavone C-glucoside, puerarin (1), is known to enhance glucose uptake into the insulin sensitive cell and is thought to be a candidate for treatment of diabetes mellitus. We synthesized 1 and several derivatives to apply for the structure-activity relationship study. The result against 3T3-L1 adipocyte indicated that the C-glucoside part of 1 is unconcerned in its activity when tested in vitro and the main structure responsible for its activity was the isoflavone moiety.