Diabetes Research Institute, Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, P.R. China.
Department of Endocrinology, Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, P.R. China.
Pharm Biol. 2023 Dec;61(1):647-656. doi: 10.1080/13880209.2023.2188549.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common liver disease, accompanied by liver lipid accumulation and inflammation. JianPi-QingHua formula (JPQH), a Chinese herbal formula, exhibits effects on obesity and T2DM. However, the hepatoprotective effect of JPQH has not been elucidated.
To investigate the hepatoprotective effect of JPQH in NAFLD induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) in mice.
C57BL/6J mice were divided into four groups and fed a normal-fat diet (ND), high-fat diet (HFD), HFD + JPQH (2.5 g/kg), or HFD + metformin (300 mg/kg) for 6 weeks, respectively. Furthermore, the body weight, epididymal fat mass, blood glucose, and liver weight were measured. Serum total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were performed. Hematoxylin and eosin staining and Oil Red O staining were observed in hepatic histopathological changes. Western blotting and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction were utilized to assess the key protein expression of hepatic lipid metabolism and inflammation.
Compared with the HFD group, JPQH could reduce body weight, epididymal fat mass, blood glucose and liver weight ( < 0.05), and markedly decreased the levels of serum TC, TG, ALT, AST ( < 0.05). Additionally, JPQH improved liver pathological changes. Consistent with the hepatic histological analysis, JPQH intervention suppressed lipid accumulation and inflammatory responses. Mechanistically, JPQH boosted SIRT1/AMPK signalling, and attenuated NF-κB pathway, which suppressed inflammatory responses.
These findings indicate that JPQH supplementation protected against HFD-induced NAFLD by regulating SIRT1/AMPK/NF-κB pathway, which provides a theoretical basis for the clinical treatment of patients with NAFLD.
非酒精性脂肪性肝病（NAFLD）是一种常见的肝脏疾病，伴有肝脏脂质积聚和炎症。健脾清化方（JPQH）是一种中药方剂，对肥胖和 2 型糖尿病有作用。然而，JPQH 的保肝作用尚未阐明。
研究 JPQH 对高脂肪饮食（HFD）诱导的 NAFLD 小鼠的保肝作用。
将 C57BL/6J 小鼠分为 4 组，分别给予正常脂肪饮食（ND）、高脂肪饮食（HFD）、HFD+JPQH（2.5g/kg）或 HFD+二甲双胍（300mg/kg）喂养 6 周。此外，测量体重、附睾脂肪质量、血糖和肝重。检测血清总胆固醇（TC）、甘油三酯（TG）、丙氨酸转氨酶（ALT）和天冬氨酸转氨酶（AST）。观察肝组织病理学变化的苏木精和伊红染色和油红 O 染色。利用 Western blot 和实时定量聚合酶链反应评估肝脏脂质代谢和炎症的关键蛋白表达。
与 HFD 组相比，JPQH 可降低体重、附睾脂肪质量、血糖和肝重（<0.05），并显著降低血清 TC、TG、ALT、AST 水平（<0.05）。此外，JPQH 改善了肝脏病理变化。与肝组织学分析一致，JPQH 干预抑制了脂质积累和炎症反应。机制上，JPQH 增强了 SIRT1/AMPK 信号通路，抑制了 NF-κB 通路，从而抑制了炎症反应。
这些发现表明，JPQH 通过调节 SIRT1/AMPK/NF-κB 通路，补充 JPQH 可防止 HFD 诱导的 NAFLD，为临床治疗 NAFLD 患者提供了理论依据。
