Abstract ▼ AI-Helper

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is characterized by the accumulation of triacylglycerol (TG) within the liver. NAFLD is a starting point of disturbances that contain various element of liver damage ranging from steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The prevalence of NAFLD may b...

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is characterized by the accumulation of triacylglycerol (TG) within the liver. NAFLD is a starting point of disturbances that contain various element of liver damage ranging from steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The prevalence of NAFLD may be associated with the increased patient of type-2-diabetes and obesity. However, there is no specific therapeutic agent for prevention or treatment of the NAFLD up to recently. Zanthoxylum ailanthoides (ZA) has been reported to have anti-oxidant, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory activity, but the effect on the TG biosynthesis and accumulation in the hepatocytes has not been reported yet. In the present study, we examined the effect of ZA methanol extract (ZA-M) on intracellular TG accumulation using oleic acid-induced cellular steatosis model. As a result, ZA-M was shown to reduce oleic acid-induced TG accumulation through the activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in HepG2 cells. ZA-M downregulated the mRNA and protein expression of the lipogenic genes such as sterol regulatory element binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c), fatty acid synthase (FAS) and acetyl-CoA carboxylase-1 (ACC-1); however, increased the lipolysis-related genes such as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α (PPAR-α) and carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1 (CPT-1). In addition, ZA-M decreased oleic acid-induced tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and ROS, suggesting ZA-M mitigated the oxidative stress in mitochondria. The results suggested that ZA-M could be used as a useful material for the prevention and treatment of NAFLD.

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