Maslinic Acid (Olive Pomace Oil Molecule)

Very interesting in that it is a pentacyclic triterpenoid molecule that shares its scaffold versatility features with several other scaffold series, much like catechin, epicatechin, epigallocatechin, and epigallocatechin gallate which are variations on a theme.

A must read paper on Maslinic Acid.

Importantly, it must be understood that this is NOT olive oil or olive pomace oil, but a compound in olive pomace (skin wax) oil to be very specific. As with all medicine, delivery vehicle, oral bioavailability, Cmax, and pharmacokinetics must be considered before declaring it a feasible therapeutic. It seems good here, and more studies are warranted.

"1: Biol Pharm Bull. 2007 Nov;30(11):2075-8.

Maslinic acid reduces blood glucose in KK-Ay mice.

Liu J, Sun H, Duan W, Mu D, Zhang L.

National Drug Screening Center, China Pharmaceutical University, 1 Shennonglu,
Nanjing, China.

In the present study, we have examined the hypoglycemic effect of maslinic acid (MA) in KK-A(y) mice, an animal model of genetic type-2 diabetes. MA (10 mg/kg body wt) reduced the blood glucose levels in KK-A(y) mice at 4 h after a single oral dose. KK-A(y) mice receiving MA at daily dosages of 10 mg/kg and 30 mg/kg for 2 weeks showed a significant reduction in the blood glucose levels. Furthermore, the results also showed that MA might modulate glucose metabolism partially through reducing insulin resistance in KK-A(y) mice. Taken together, MA may hold great promise as a natural therapeutic agent for treatment of type 2 diabetes.


PMID: 17978478 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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