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The prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been rapidly increasing worldwide. A choline-deficient, L-amino acid-defined, high-fat diet (CDAHFD) has been used to create a mouse model of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). There are some reports on the effects on mice of being fed a CDAHFD for long periods of 1 to 3 months. However, the effect of this diet over a short period is unknown. Therefore, we examined the effect of 1-week CDAHFD feeding on the mouse liver. Feeding a CDAHFD diet for only 1-week induced lipid droplet deposition in the liver with increasing activity of liver-derived enzymes in the plasma. On the other hand, it did not induce fibrosis or cirrhosis. Additionally, it was demonstrated that CDAHFD significantly impaired mitochondrial respiration with severe oxidative stress to the liver, which is associated with a decreasing mitochondrial DNA copy number and complex proteins. In the gene expression analysis of the liver, inflammatory and oxidative stress markers were significantly increased by CDAHFD. These results demonstrated that 1 week of feeding CDAHFD to mice induces steatohepatitis with mitochondrial dysfunction and severe oxidative stress, without fibrosis, which can partially mimic the early stage of NASH in humans.

Progression of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is attributed to several factors, including inflammation and oxidative stress. In recent years, renalase has been reported to suppress oxidative stress, apoptosis and inflammation. A number of studies have suggested that renalase may be associated with protecting the liver from injury. The present study aimed to clarify the effects of renalase knockout (KO) in mice with NASH that were induced with a choline‑deficient high‑fat diet (CDAHFD) supplemented with 0.1% methionine. Wild type (WT) and KO mice (6‑week‑old) were fed a normal diet (ND) or CDAHFD for 6 weeks, followed by analysis of the blood liver function markers and liver tissues. CDAHFD intake was revealed to increase blood hepatic function markers, lipid accumulation and oxidative stress compared with ND, but no significant differences were observed between the WT and KO mice. However, in the KO‑CDAHFD group, the Adgre1 and Tgfb1 mRNA levels were significantly higher, and α‑SMA expression was significantly lower compared with the WT‑CDAHFD group. Furthermore, the Gclc mRNA and phosphorylated protein kinase B (Akt) levels were significantly lower in the KO‑ND group compared with the WT‑ND group. The results of the current study indicated that as NASH progressed in the absence of renalase, oxidative stress, macrophage infiltration and TGF‑β expression were enhanced, while α‑SMA expression in NASH may be partly suppressed due to the decreased phosphorylation of Akt level.