Department of Health Promotion, Mother and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy.
Department of Biomedicine, Neurosciences and Advanced Diagnostics, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy.
Molecules. 2023 Jan 27;28(3):1261. doi: 10.3390/molecules28031261.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an emerging chronic liver disease worldwide. Curcumin and andrographolide are famous for improving hepatic functions, being able to reverse oxidative stress and release pro-inflammatory cytokines, and they are implicated in hepatic stellate cell activation and in liver fibrosis development. Thus, we tested curcumin and andrographolide separately and in combination to determine their effect on triglyceride accumulation and ROS production, identifying the differential expression of genes involved in fatty liver and oxidative stress development. In vitro steatosis was induced in HepG2 cells and the protective effect of curcumin, andrographolide, and their combination was observed evaluating cell viability, lipid and triglyceride content, ROS levels, and microarray differential gene expression. Curcumin, andrographolide, and their association were effective in reducing steatosis, triglyceride content, and ROS stress, downregulating the genes involved in lipid accumulation. Moreover, the treatments were able to protect the cytotoxic effect of steatosis, promoting the expression of survival and anti-inflammatory genes. The present study showed that the association of curcumin and andrographolide could be used as a therapeutic approach to counter high lipid content and ROS levels in steatosis liver, avoiding the possible hepatotoxic effect of curcumin. Furthermore, this study improved our understanding of the antisteatosis and hepatoprotective properties of a curcumin and andrographolide combination.
非酒精性脂肪性肝病（NAFLD）是一种全球范围内新兴的慢性肝脏疾病。姜黄素和穿心莲内酯以改善肝功能而闻名，能够逆转氧化应激并释放促炎细胞因子，它们与肝星状细胞激活和肝纤维化发展有关。因此，我们分别测试了姜黄素和穿心莲内酯，以及它们的组合，以确定它们对甘油三酯积累和 ROS 产生的影响，确定参与脂肪肝和氧化应激发展的基因的差异表达。在 HepG2 细胞中诱导体外脂肪变性，并观察姜黄素、穿心莲内酯及其组合的保护作用，评估细胞活力、脂质和甘油三酯含量、ROS 水平和微阵列差异基因表达。姜黄素、穿心莲内酯及其组合在降低脂肪变性、甘油三酯含量和 ROS 应激方面有效，下调参与脂质积累的基因。此外，这些治疗方法能够保护脂肪变性的细胞毒性作用，促进生存和抗炎基因的表达。本研究表明，姜黄素和穿心莲内酯的联合应用可以作为一种治疗方法，用于对抗脂肪变性肝脏中的高脂质含量和 ROS 水平，避免姜黄素可能产生的肝毒性作用。此外，本研究加深了我们对姜黄素和穿心莲内酯联合应用的抗脂肪变性和保肝作用的理解。
