Betulinic acid alleviates endoplasmic reticulum stress-mediated nonalcoholic fatty liver disease through activation of farnesoid X receptors in mice

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The molecular mechanism for the pathogenesis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) remains elusive. Both farnesoid X receptor (FXR) signalling and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress contribute to the progression of NAFLD; however, it is not clear whether the actions of these two pathways are dependent on each other. Moreover, the pharmacological benefits and mechanism of betulinic acid (BA) in controlling metabolic syndrome and NAFLD are largely unknown. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: A reporter assay and a time‐resolved FRET assay were used to identify BA as an agonist of the FXR. NAFLD was induced by a methionine and choline‐deficient L‐amino acid diet (MCD) and high‐fat diet (HFD). The pharmacological effects of BA (100 mg·kg(−1)·day(−1)) and potential interactions between hepatic FXR activation and ER stress pathways were evaluated by FXR silencing, Western blot and RT‐PCR analyses using control and FXR(−/−) mice. KEY RESULTS: Activation of the FXR inhibited intracellular PERK/EIF2α/ATF4 and CHOP signalling, thereby alleviating hepatic ER stress, whereas FXR silencing resulted in an opposite effect. Furthermore, we identified BA as an FXR agonist that effectively attenuated the progression of NAFLD and metabolic disorders in both HFD‐ and MCD diet‐fed mice and restored the hepatocellular ER homeostasis by stimulating the FXR signalling pathway and blocking PERK/EIF2α signalling. In contrast, the effects of BA were attenuated in FXR(−/−) mice. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Our data demonstrate that pharmacological activation of the FXR by BA reduces hepatocellular ER stress and attenuates NAFLD in an animal model of hepatic steatosis.