The protective effects of rosiglitazone on tree shrew’s fatty liver / 中华消化杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effects of rosiglitazone on tree shrew's fatty liver induced by high sugar and fat diet. Methods Thirty six tree shrews were assigned as the chow diet group (group A, 8 animals) and the high sugar and high fat fed group (28 animals). The latter were fed alternately with the mix food containing 40% saccharu and 20% fat by one day interval. In the high sugar and high fat fed group, 19 animals (67.86%), which had an increased FBG level equal to or more than 11.1 mmol/L 22 weeks after the diet, were divided into 2 subgroups rosiglitazone supplemented group (group B), to which rosiglitazone was added at a dose of 5 mg?kg -1 ?d -1 for seven weeks, and non supplemented group (group C). Body weight, fasting serum insulin(FINS) and blood lipid including total cholesterol(TC), triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL C) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL C) were examined during the experiment. Liver biopsies were carried out under general anaesthesia at 22 week and the end of the experiment in all animals. The samples of liver were fixed in 4% polymerisatum for 12 h, then through pathological routine processing. The expressions of uncoupling protein 3 (UCP3) and insulin receptor (IR) were analyzed by calculating the UCP3 and IR expressing positive cells and by analyzing the area density of positive cells using computer aided video system. Results Morphological alteration under light microscopy showed that all animals from both group B and C had a typical steatosis throughout the liver sections 22 week after high sugar and high fat feeding. The area density of steatosis and the proportion of involved hepatocytes were approximately 30% and reached higher degrees in group C ( P 0.05) .Conclusion Increased expression of liver for IR ? in tree shrews on a high sugar and high fat diet indicates that insulin signaling may have a role in the development of hepatosteatosis.