Wang Jinguo, Ma Yang, Cui Enning, Li Shude, Fan Xiaoming
School of Public Health, Guilin Medical University, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Guilin 541004, P.R. China.
Department of Human Anatomy, School of Basic Medicine, Guilin Medical University, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Guilin 541004, China.
ACS Omega. 2025 May 20;10(21):21095-21104. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.4c09465. eCollection 2025 Jun 3.
Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is a metabolic disease. Scutellarin (Scu) is one of the active components extracted from Erigeron breviscapus , which has been shown to fight multiple diseases. However, there is not enough evidence to support the effectiveness of Scu in treating MASLD. We aimed to investigate whether Scu could be a potential drug for MASLD. The rat model of MASLD was established after a high-fat and high-sugar (HFHS) diet for 16 weeks. After the model had been successfully built, 100 mg/kg/d Scu was given for 8 weeks. The biochemical indexes of serum were determined by an automatic biochemical analyzer. The process involved staining liver tissues by oil red "O" and hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining, followed by the extraction of total RNA from the liver. Then, high-throughput sequencing was used to screen the changes in the transcriptome. Verification of the associated key genes was achieved through bioinformatics, Western blot, RT-PCR, and immunohistochemical analyses. The results demonstrated that Scu could decrease the ratio of liver weight to body weight, as well as the levels of ALT, AST, ALP, TG, and TC in SD rats induced by HFHS diets, thereby improving liver function and lipid accumulation in rats. Furthermore, Scu was capable of reversing pathological changes in SD rats. The transcriptomic analysis corroborated these findings and further identified as a crucial gene mediating the beneficial effects of Scu on MASLD in rats. This was also supported by RT-PCR, Western blot, and immunohistochemical analyses. This study is the first to identify as a key gene for Scu treatment of MASLD through transcriptomes and confirms that Scu is a potentially effective drug for MASLD.
代谢功能障碍相关脂肪性肝病（MASLD）是一种代谢性疾病。灯盏花素（Scu）是从灯盏细辛中提取的活性成分之一，已被证明可对抗多种疾病。然而，尚无足够证据支持灯盏花素治疗MASLD的有效性。我们旨在研究灯盏花素是否可能成为治疗MASLD的潜在药物。通过高脂高糖（HFHS）饮食16周建立MASLD大鼠模型。模型成功建立后，给予100mg/kg/d灯盏花素，持续8周。用自动生化分析仪测定血清生化指标。该过程包括用油红“O”和苏木精-伊红（HE）染色对肝组织进行染色，然后从肝脏中提取总RNA。然后，使用高通量测序筛选转录组的变化。通过生物信息学、蛋白质免疫印迹法、逆转录-聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）和免疫组织化学分析对相关关键基因进行验证。结果表明，灯盏花素可降低HFHS饮食诱导的SD大鼠肝脏重量与体重之比，以及血清谷丙转氨酶（ALT）、谷草转氨酶（AST）、碱性磷酸酶（ALP）、甘油三酯（TG）和总胆固醇（TC）水平，从而改善大鼠肝功能和脂质蓄积。此外，灯盏花素能够逆转SD大鼠的病理变化。转录组分析证实了这些发现，并进一步确定 为介导灯盏花素对大鼠MASLD有益作用的关键基因。这也得到了RT-PCR、蛋白质免疫印迹法和免疫组织化学分析的支持。本研究首次通过转录组鉴定 为灯盏花素治疗MASLD的关键基因，并证实灯盏花素是治疗MASLD的潜在有效药物。
