The therapeutic effects of resveratrol on hepatic steatosis in high-fat diet-induced obese mice by improving oxidative stress, inflammation and lipid-related gene transcriptional expression.

So far, the majority of the previous animal studies have focused on the preventive effects of resveratrol (RSV) on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) rather than the therapeutic effects. In this study, the therapeutic effects of RSV on hepatic oxidative stress (OS), inflammation, and lipid metabolism-related gene expression of obese mice induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) were investigated. Male C57BL/6 mice were fed a HFD for 8 weeks to induce obesity-related NAFLD model. And then, NAFLD mice were treated with daily RSV oral gavage at the dose of 100 mg/kg body weight for an additional 4 weeks. HFD-induced the elevation of serum total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, glucose, insulin, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase levels, and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance, hepatic histology changes, the increases in hepatic triglyceride, malondialdehyde and tumor necrosis factor alpha concentrations, as well as the higher mRNA expression of hepatic toll-like receptor 4 and cluster of differentiation 36 in mice, were restored by RSV. The therapeutic effects of RSV against hepatic steatosis of HFD obese mice were attributed to the reduction of OS, inflammation and free fatty acid uptake.