Relative Expression Levels of FoxO1 in cinnamon extract treated pre-adipocytes.

One out of 10 Americans is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and an additional 1 in 3 have pre-diabetes. The lab has previously published research demonstrating a statistically significant decrease in blood glucose levels for individuals with type 2 diabetes when supplemented with 1 gram of cinnamon per day. We examined the effects of cinnamon extract on FoxO1, a transcription factor that has been shown to mediate a number of metabolic controls, in 3T3-L1 murine preadipocytes. Our experiment measured the relative expression of FoxO1 when treated for 48 hours with 10 µg/mL (previously determined via dose response experiment) aqueous cinnamon extract or vehicle. The total RNA was collected from cultured cells and copy DNA was produced via reverse transcriptase. Expression levels were determined by measuring the real time fluorescence increase in FoxO1, as the gene is amplified and compared to the 16S ribosomal endogenous control.