Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China.
Department of Reproductive Medical Center, Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, China.
Gene. 2022 Jul 30;833:146553. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2022.146553. Epub 2022 May 13.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the leading causes of liver disease, which lacks effective treatments. Abnormal lipid metabolism and inflammation are the most prominent pathological manifestations of NAFLD. Recently, it has been reported that white tea extract (WTE) can regulate lipid metabolism in human adipocytes and liver cancer cells in vitro. However, its beneficial effects on NAFLD and the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here, we showed that WTE alleviated obesity, lipid accumulation, hepatic steatosis, and liver injury in a mouse model of NAFLD. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that WTE exerted the anti-NAFLD effect by decreasing the expression of genes involved in lipid transport and synthesis processes while activating genes associated with energy expenditure. In addition, a comparison of the transcriptional responses of WTE with that of green tea extract (GTE) revealed that WTE can not only regulate lipid metabolism and stress response like GTE but also regulate antioxidant and inflammatory pathways more effectively. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that WTE inhibits the progression of NAFLD in a mouse model and indicate that WTE can be a potential dietary intervention for NAFLD.
非酒精性脂肪性肝病 (NAFLD) 是肝脏疾病的主要原因之一，目前缺乏有效的治疗方法。异常的脂质代谢和炎症是非酒精性脂肪性肝病最突出的病理表现。最近有报道称，白茶提取物 (WTE) 可以在体外调节人脂肪细胞和肝癌细胞的脂质代谢。然而，其对非酒精性脂肪性肝病的有益作用及其潜在机制在很大程度上尚不清楚。在这里，我们表明 WTE 可减轻 NAFLD 小鼠模型中的肥胖、脂质积累、肝脂肪变性和肝损伤。在机制上，我们证明 WTE 通过降低与脂质转运和合成过程相关的基因的表达，同时激活与能量消耗相关的基因，发挥抗 NAFLD 作用。此外，将 WTE 的转录反应与绿茶提取物 (GTE) 的转录反应进行比较表明，WTE 不仅可以像 GTE 一样调节脂质代谢和应激反应，而且可以更有效地调节抗氧化和炎症途径。总之，我们的研究结果表明，WTE 可抑制 NAFLD 小鼠模型的进展，并表明 WTE 可以成为 NAFLD 的一种潜在饮食干预措施。
