Sodium butyrate in combination with berberine improves nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in C57BL/6J mice / 中国药理学通报

ABSTRACT

Aim To investigate the effects of sodium butyrate (NaB) in combination with berberine (BBR) to improve high-fat diet (HFD)-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in C57BL/6J mice. Methods Mice were fed a HFD for seven weeks to develop NAFLD, and the normal diet (ND) was used as control. With HFD-feeding, the mice were intragas-trically administered with normal saline (NS) , NaB, BBR, or NaB + BBR, respectively. The 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was used to determine the parameters of fatty acid composition in liver, HE and oil red 0 (ORO) were used for liver tissue staining, and Western blot and quantitative real-time reverse transcription (RT)-PCR were used to determine the expression levels of target proteins or mRNAs, respectively. Results As compared to ND group, the HFD + NS group of mice had significant liver fat accumulation , fatty acid composition abnormality, and liver function damage. In the liver of HFD + NS group o mice, the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) pathway was suppressed, accompanied with a significant increase of lipogenic gene expression and a significant decrease of lipolytic gene expression. Meanwhile, an increase of inflammatory factor expression and oxidative stress were observed in the liver of HFD + NS group of mice. When used in combination, NaB and BBR improved these parameters significantly and almost restored them to normal. The efficacy of NaB and BBR combination was significantly superior to that of either agent alone (P < 0. 05). Conclusions NaB in combination with BBR improves HFD-induced NAFLD effectively in C57BL/6J mice, and this combination regimen may have some prospect of development and application.