College of Food Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266003, Shandong, China.
School of Food Science & Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, Jiangsu, China.
Food Funct. 2022 Mar 7;13(5):2791-2804. doi: 10.1039/d1fo03833h.
Sea cucumber is widely consumed as food and folk medicine in Asia, and its phospholipids are rich sources of dietary eicosapentaenoic acid enriched ether-phospholipids (ether-PLs). Emerging evidence suggests that ether-PLs are associated with neurodegenerative disease and steatohepatitis. However, the function and mechanism of ether-PLs in alcoholic liver disease (ALD) are not well understood. To this end, the present study sought to investigate the hepatoprotective effects of sea cucumber ether-PLs, including plasmenyl phosphatidylethanolamine (PlsEtn) and plasmanyl phosphatidylcholine (PlsCho), and their underlying mechanisms. Our results showed that compared with EtOH-induced mice, ether-PL treated mice showed improved liver histology, decreased serum ALT and AST levels, and reduced alcohol metabolic enzyme (ALDH2 and ADH1) expressions. Mechanistic studies showed that ether-PLs attenuated "first-hit" hepatic steatosis and lipid accumulation evoked by alcohol administration. Moreover, PlsEtn more effectively restored endogenous plasmalogen levels than PlsCho, thereby enhancing hepatic antioxidation against "second-hit" reactive oxygen species (ROS) due to the damaged mitochondria and abnormal ethanol metabolism. Taken together, sea cucumber ether-PLs show great potential to become a natural functional food against chronic alcohol-induced hepatic steatosis and lipid metabolic dysregulation.
海参在亚洲被广泛用作食品和民间药物，其磷脂是富含二十碳五烯酸的饮食醚磷脂（醚-PL）的丰富来源。新出现的证据表明，醚-PL 与神经退行性疾病和脂肪性肝炎有关。然而，醚-PL 在酒精性肝病（ALD）中的功能和机制尚不清楚。为此，本研究旨在探讨海参醚-PL（包括溶血磷脂酰乙醇胺（PlsEtn）和溶血磷脂酰胆碱（PlsCho））的保肝作用及其机制。我们的研究结果表明，与乙醇诱导的小鼠相比，醚-PL 处理的小鼠肝组织学改善，血清 ALT 和 AST 水平降低，酒精代谢酶（ALDH2 和 ADH1）表达减少。机制研究表明，醚-PL 减轻了酒精给药引起的“初次打击”肝脂肪变性和脂质堆积。此外，PlsEtn 比 PlsCho 更有效地恢复内源性类二十烷酸水平，从而增强肝脏抗氧化能力，抵抗由于线粒体损伤和异常乙醇代谢引起的“二次打击”活性氧（ROS）。综上所述，海参醚-PL 具有成为天然功能性食品的巨大潜力，可预防慢性酒精引起的肝脂肪变性和脂质代谢失调。
