1. Protective Effect of a Mixture of Astragalus membranaceus and Lithospermum erythrorhizon Extract against Hepatic Steatosis in High Fat Diet-Induced Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Mice.
- Author
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Choi, Doo Jin, Kim, Seong Cheol, Park, Gi Eun, Choi, Bo-Ram, Lee, Dae Young, Lee, Young-Seob, Park, Sung-Bum, Park, Yong Il, and Kim, Geum Soog
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NON-alcoholic fatty liver disease , *ASTRAGALUS (Plants) , *HDL cholesterol , *PHOSPHORYLATION , *LIPIDS , *ASPARTATE aminotransferase , *DIETARY fats , *LDL cholesterol , *ALKALINE phosphatase , *LACTATE dehydrogenase , *ACYLTRANSFERASES , *CELLULAR signal transduction , *PLANT extracts , *MICE , *BLOOD sugar , *GAMMA-glutamyltransferase , *GENE expression , *ANIMAL experimentation , *CHOLESTEROL , *ALANINE aminotransferase , *ACETYLTRANSFERASES , *ASIAN medicine , *LIVER , *TRIGLYCERIDES , *DRUG synergism , *COENZYMES , *DNA-binding proteins - Abstract
The present study aimed to evaluate the potential synergistic and protective effects of ALM16, a mixture of Astragalus membranaceus (AM) and Lithospermum erythrorhizon (LE) extract in a ratio of 7 : 3, against hepatic steatosis in high fat diet (HFD)-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) mice. Forty-eight mice were randomly divided into eight groups and orally administered daily for 6 weeks with a normal diet (ND) or high fat diet alone (HFD), HFD with AM (HFD + 100 mg/kg AM extract), HFD with LE (HFD + 100 mg/kg LE extract), HFD with ALM16 (HFD + 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg ALM16), or HFD with MT (HFD + 100 mg/kg Milk thistle extract) as a positive control. ALM16 significantly decreased the body and liver weight, serum and hepatic lipid profiles, including triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL), and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL), and serum glucose levels, compared to the HFD group. Moreover, ALM16 significantly ameliorated the HFD-induced increased hepatic injury markers, including aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT)-1. Furthermore, as compared to the mice fed HFD alone, ALM16 increased the levels of phosphorylated AMP-activated protein kinase (p-AMPK) and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (p-ACC), thereby upregulating the expression of carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT)-1 and downregulating the expression of sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP)-1c and fatty acid synthase (FAS). These results demonstrated that ALM16 markedly inhibited HFD-induced hepatic steatosis in NAFLD mice by modulating AMPK and ACC signaling pathways, and may be more effective than the single extracts of AM or LE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
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