Effect of Shihu Mixture on Autophagy Protein of AMPK/TFEB Signaling Pathway in Rats with T2DM-NAFLD / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To observe the expression of adenosine monophosphate activated protein kinase （AMPK）/transcription factor EB （TFEB） autophagy signaling pathway protein in type 2 diabetes （T2DM） complicated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease （NAFLD） rats after intervention with Shihu mixture （SHM）. Method:Among 40 male SD rats， 10 rats were randomly selected as normal group according to body weight. The remaining 30 rats were fed with high-fat and high-sugar diet for 6 weeks， and then intraperitoneally injected with streptozotocin （STZ） to establish a T2DM NAFLD model. They were divided into normal control group （10 mL·kg-1·d-1）， model control group （10 mL·kg-1·d-1）， metformin group （100 mg·kg-1·d-1）， SHM group （11.3 g·kg-1·d-1）. The rats in each group were gavaged for 4 weeks. After gavage， the rats were euthanized. Abdominal aortic blood and liver tissue were collected to detect fasting blood glucose （FBS）， glycated serum protein （GSP）， insulin （INS）， triglyceride （TG）， total cholesterol （TC）， high density lipoprotein cholesterol（HDL-C）， low-density lipoprotein cholesterol（LDL-C） content. Htoxylin eosin （HE） staining was performed to observe changes in liver tissue morphology. Western blot was used to detect AMPK/TFEB signaling pathway-related protein expression. Result:Compared with the model control group， FBS and GSP of the SHM group and the DMBG group decreased （P<0.05）， while INS increased （P<0.05）. Compared with the model group， HDL increased in the SHM group and the DMBG group （P<0.05）， whereas TC， TG and LDL contents decreased （P<0.05）. Liver HE staining results showed that both SHM and Metformin could improve the liver morphology of T2DM and NAFLD rats to some extent. Western blot results showed that p-AMPK/AMPK of SHM and metformin increased （P<0.05）， while the expressions of TFEB and LC3Ⅱ increased （P<0.05）. Conclusion:SHM can improve glucose and lipid metabolism by activating AMPK/TFEB autophagy signaling pathway， so as to improve liver pathological morphology.