Institute of Food Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
Center for Food and Biomolecules, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
Nutr Diabetes. 2024 Aug 16;14(1):65. doi: 10.1038/s41387-024-00306-1.
Diet and gut microbiota contribute to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) progression. High-fat diets (HFDs) change gut microbiota compositions, induce gut dysbiosis, and intestinal barrier leakage, which facilitates portal influx of pathogen-associated molecular patterns including lipopolysaccharides (LPS) to the liver and triggers inflammation in NASH. Current therapeutic drugs for NASH have adverse side effects; however, several foods and herbs that exhibit hepatoprotection could be an alternative method to prevent NASH.
We investigated ginger essential oil (GEO) against palm oil-containing HFDs in LPS-injected murine NASH model.
GEO reduced plasma alanine aminotransferase levels and hepatic pro-inflammatory cytokine levels; and increased antioxidant catalase, glutathione reductase, and glutathione levels to prevent NASH. GEO alleviated hepatic inflammation through mediated NLR family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome and LPS/Toll-like receptor four (TLR4) signaling pathways. GEO further increased beneficial bacterial abundance and reduced NASH-associated bacterial abundance.
This study demonstrated that GEO prevents NASH progression which is probably associated with the alterations of gut microbiota and inhibition of the LPS/TLR4/NF-κB pathway. Hence, GEO may offer a promising application as a dietary supplement for the prevention of NASH.
饮食和肠道微生物群与非酒精性脂肪性肝炎（NASH）的进展有关。高脂肪饮食（HFD）改变了肠道微生物群的组成，引起肠道菌群失调和肠道屏障渗漏，这有利于病原体相关分子模式（包括脂多糖（LPS））从肠道进入肝脏，并引发 NASH 中的炎症。目前用于 NASH 的治疗药物有不良反应；然而，一些具有保肝作用的食物和草药可能是预防 NASH 的替代方法。
我们研究了姜精油（GEO）对含有棕榈油的 HFD 和 LPS 注射的 NASH 小鼠模型的作用。
GEO 降低了血浆丙氨酸氨基转移酶水平和肝促炎细胞因子水平；并增加抗氧化酶过氧化氢酶、谷胱甘肽还原酶和谷胱甘肽水平，以预防 NASH。GEO 通过介导 NOD 样受体家族含pyrin 结构域 3（NLRP3）炎性体和 LPS/Toll 样受体 4（TLR4）信号通路缓解肝炎症。GEO 进一步增加了有益细菌的丰度，减少了与 NASH 相关的细菌丰度。
本研究表明，GEO 可预防 NASH 进展，这可能与肠道微生物群的改变和 LPS/TLR4/NF-κB 通路的抑制有关。因此，GEO 可能作为一种膳食补充剂，有希望用于预防 NASH。
