INS and diabetes mellitus: IRS studies on Ophiopogon japonicus polysaccharide and glucopyranose-rich heteropolysaccharide from Catathelasma ventricosum demonstrated that these compounds could trigger the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway through IRS1, PI3K-p85, and phosphorylated AKT to promote insulin sensitivity and improve diabetes-associated renal disease (Wang et al., 2012; Liu et al., 2016a,b).