Faculty of Agriculture and Food, Yunnan Institute of Food Safety, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan Province 650500, People's Republic of China.
Food Funct. 2020 Jan 29;11(1):799-812. doi: 10.1039/c9fo02262g.
The objective of this study is to investigate the preventive effect of phenolic-rich extracts from Chinese sumac (Rhus chinensis Mill.) fruits against nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in rats induced by a high-fat diet and to clarify the underlying mechanisms. The results showed that the phenolic-rich extract remarkably improved some critical biochemical indexes, including TG, TC, MDA, ALT, AST, and endogenous antioxidant enzymes. The results of immunofluorescence and TUNEL assay showed that the extract obviously reduced the level of NF-κB in cell nuclei and suppressed hepatocyte apoptosis. Moreover, immunohistochemistry and western blot analyses further revealed that the phenolic-rich extract can improve NAFLD in high-fat diet induced rats by regulating several key proteins related to lipid metabolism, inflammation and apoptosis of hepatocytes, namely upregulating the expression levels of p-AMPK, PPAR-α, CPT1 and Bcl-2, and downregulating the levels of PPAR-γ, CYP2E1, p-P38, p-NF-κB, iNOS, COX-2, caspase-3D and Bax. These results indicate that the phenolic-rich extract from Chinese sumac fruits could prevent NAFLD in rats by regulating some critical proteins in several signalling pathways and may be provided as a new natural ingredient for developing functional foods and/or nutraceuticals to prevent NAFLD.
本研究旨在探讨中国花椒（Rhus chinensis Mill.）果实中的多酚提取物对高脂饮食诱导的大鼠非酒精性脂肪性肝病（NAFLD）的预防作用，并阐明其作用机制。结果表明，多酚提取物显著改善了一些关键的生化指标，包括 TG、TC、MDA、ALT、AST 和内源性抗氧化酶。免疫荧光和 TUNEL 检测结果表明，该提取物可明显降低细胞核中 NF-κB 的水平，抑制肝细胞凋亡。此外，免疫组化和 Western blot 分析进一步表明，多酚提取物可通过调节与脂肪代谢、炎症和肝细胞凋亡相关的几种关键蛋白来改善高脂饮食诱导的大鼠 NAFLD，即上调 p-AMPK、PPAR-α、CPT1 和 Bcl-2 的表达水平，下调 PPAR-γ、CYP2E1、p-P38、p-NF-κB、iNOS、COX-2、caspase-3D 和 Bax 的水平。这些结果表明，中国花椒果实中的多酚提取物可通过调节几条信号通路中的一些关键蛋白来预防大鼠的 NAFLD，可作为开发功能性食品和/或天然药物预防 NAFLD 的新天然成分。
