Bezafibrate improves insulin sensitivity and metabolic flexibility in STZ-treated diabetic mice

Bezafibrate (BEZ), a pan activator of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs), is generally used to treat hyperlipidemia. Clinical trials on patients suffering from type 2 diabetes indicated that BEZ also has beneficial effects on glucose metabolism, but the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Much less is known about the function of BEZ in type 1 diabetes. Here, we show that BEZ treatment markedly improves hyperglycemia, glucose and insulin tolerance in streptozotocin (STZ)-treated mice, an insulin-deficient mouse model of type 1 diabetes presenting with very high blood glucose levels. Furthermore, BEZ-treated mice also exhibited improved metabolic flexibility as well as an enhanced mitochondrial mass and function in the liver. Our data demonstrate a beneficial effect of BEZ treatment on STZ mice reducing diabetes and suggest that BEZ ameliorates impaired glucose metabolism possibly via augmented hepatic mitochondrial performance, improved insulin sensitivity and metabolic flexibility. We performed gene expression microarray analysis on liver tissue derived from streptozotocin-treated mice treated with bezafibrate in addition.