Regulating effect of berberine on macrophage phenotype transformation in hepatic tissue of mice with methionine-choline deficiency diet induced non-alcoholic steatohepatitis / 解剖学报

ABSTRACT

Objective To determine the efficacy of berberine in the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis ( NASH) , and to investigate the regulating effect on macrophage phenotype transformation in hepatic tissue on methionine -choline deficiency (MCD) diet induced NASH mice.Methods Fourty male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into 4 groups (10 mice per group) the normal group (fed with normal diet), the NASH model group (fed with MCD diet), rosiglitazone treatment group (30mg/kg) and berberine treatment group (150mg/kg).Drugs were adopted in the preventive intervention method for 2 weeks.The hepatic histopathological method was adopted to evaluate the drug therapeutic effect.The serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), interleukin(IL)-6, and IL-10 were examined with ELISA method.M1 and M2 phenotype were detected by flow cytometry .Results The results showed berberine improved the degree of hepatic histopathology .Berberine not only reduced the level of TNF-α, but also increased the level of IL-10 in serum on NASH mice significantly ( P <0.05 ) . Flow cytometry data indicated that berberine decreased M 1 type macrophages and increased M 2 type macrophages in liver tissue .The ratio of M1/M2 was significantly decreased in berberine and rosiglitazone treated group ( P <0.01 ) .Conclusion Berberine may improve the hepatic pathological process in MCD diet induced NASH model possibly through modulating macrophage phenotype transformation , i.e.The ratio of M2 type is more than M1 type in hepatic tissue , and increasing anti-inflammatory cytokines .