Chaihu Guizhi Ganjiang Decoction Improves Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver in Rats Through RIP1/RIP3/MLKL Pathways Inhibiting Necrotic Apoptosis / 广州中医药大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the therapeutic effect and mechanism of Chaihu Guizhi Ganjiang Decoction on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD)rats.Methods The experiment was conducted in five groupsnormal group,model group,low-and high-dose groups of Chinese medicine(Chaihu Guizhi Ganjiang Decoction)and GSK872[receptor interacting protein kinase(RIP)3 inhibitor]group.Except for the normal group,the NAFLD rat model was constructed using high-fat chow feeding method in the remaining groups,respectively.At the end of treatment,hepatocyte apoptosis was observed by terminal transferase uridyl nick end labeling(TUNEL)method,and serum levels of alanine aminotransferase(ALT),aspartate aminotransferase(AST),lipids[total cholesterol(TC),triglycerides(TG),low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C),high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C)],and the levels of inflammatory factors tumor necrosis factor α(TNF-α)and interleukin 1β(IL-1β)in liver tissues were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA);and the levels of phosphorylation of RIP1,RIP3,and mixed lineage kinase structural domain-like protein(MLKL)were detected in liver tissues by Western Blot.Results Compared with the normal group,the apoptotic index of rat hepatocytes in the model group was elevated,ALT and AST in serum were significantly elevated,TC,TG and LDL-C levels were significantly elevated,and HDL-C level was significantly reduced,and the contents of TNF-α and IL-1β as well as the phosphorylated expression levels of RIP1,RIP3 and MLKL were significantly elevated in the liver tissues(P＜0.05);compared with the model group,the apoptotic index of hepatocytes in rats in the low-and high-dose groups of Chinese medicine and GSK872 group was reduced,the serum levels of ALT and AST were significantly reduced,the levels of TC,TG and LDL-C were significantly reduced,the level of HDL-C was significantly increased,and the contents of TNF-α and IL-1β and the phosphorylated expressions of RIP1,RIP3 and MLKL in the liver tissues were significantly reduced(P＜0.05);there was no significant difference in the above-mentioned indexes between the low-dose and high-dose groups of Chinese medicine and the GSK872 group(P＞0.05).Conclusion Chaihu Guizhi Ganjiang Decoction can effectively improve NAFLD in rats,and its mechanism may be related to the inhibition of RIP1/RIP3/MLKL signaling pathway activation,which in turn inhibits necrotic apoptosis.