Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang, 110016, China.
Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines of the Changbai Mountain, Ministry of Education, Yanbian University, Yanji, 133002, China.
Plant Foods Hum Nutr. 2024 Dec;79(4):915-919. doi: 10.1007/s11130-024-01235-1. Epub 2024 Sep 19.
Apple polyphenols (APs) have gained attention for their various bioactivities, while no studies on anti-liver fibrosis activity are reported. This study evaluated the protective effect of APs on liver fibrosis using LPS-treated activated HSC-T6 cells and alcohol-treated liver fibrosis (ALF) mice. The results indicated that APs inhibited HSC-T6 cells activation in vitro and reduced the level of serum hyaluronic acid (HA) (p < 0.05), decreased fibrogenesis marker expression (p < 0.05), thereby alleviating ALF. In addition, APs (800 mg/kg b.w.) decreased the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio (p < 0.05) in ALF mice, inhibited LPS accumulation in the liver tissue and serum (p < 0.05), and significantly inhibited the TLR4/NF-κB/TGF-β signaling in mice liver. In conclusion, APs markedly ameliorated ALF, possibly by improving gut microbiota homeostasis, decreasing the translocation of bacterial endotoxins to the blood, and suppressing the TLR4/NF-κB/TGF-β signaling pathway, indicating its potential as lead compounds for functional foods and/or drugs against ALF.
苹果多酚（APs）因其多种生物活性而受到关注，而目前尚无关于其抗肝纤维化活性的研究。本研究采用 LPS 处理的活化 HSC-T6 细胞和酒精处理的肝纤维化（ALF）小鼠模型，评估了 APs 对肝纤维化的保护作用。结果表明，APs 可抑制体外 HSC-T6 细胞的活化，并降低血清透明质酸（HA）水平（p<0.05），降低纤维化标志物的表达（p<0.05），从而减轻 ALF。此外，APs（800mg/kg b.w.）可降低 ALF 小鼠厚壁菌门/拟杆菌门比值（p<0.05），抑制肝组织和血清中 LPS 的积累（p<0.05），并显著抑制小鼠肝脏中 TLR4/NF-κB/TGF-β 信号通路。总之，APs 显著改善了 ALF，可能是通过改善肠道微生物组稳态、减少细菌内毒素向血液的易位以及抑制 TLR4/NF-κB/TGF-β 信号通路来实现的，这表明其有潜力作为防治 ALF 的功能性食品和/或药物的先导化合物。
