Gegen Qinlian Decoction Ameliorates Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Rats via Oxidative Stress, Inflammation, and the NLRP3 Signal Axis
Yuqi Ying
College of Second Clinical Medicine, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, Zhejiang, China zcmu.edu.cn
Search for more papers by this authorHaitao Zhang
Department of Urinary Surgery, Taizhou Municipal Hospital, Taizhou 318000, Zhejiang, China tzhospital.com
Search for more papers by this authorDian Yu
College of Second Clinical Medicine, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, Zhejiang, China zcmu.edu.cn
Search for more papers by this authorWei Zhang
Department of Endocrinology, Taizhou Municipal Hospital, Taizhou, Zhejiang, China tzhospital.com
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Dongling Zhou
Department of Nursing, Taizhou Municipal Hospital, Taizhou, Zhejiang, China tzhospital.com
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Shuangchun Liu
Department of Blood Transfusion Division, Taizhou Municipal Hospital, Taizhou, Zhejiang, China tzhospital.com
Search for more papers by this authorYuqi Ying
College of Second Clinical Medicine, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, Zhejiang, China zcmu.edu.cn
Search for more papers by this authorHaitao Zhang
Department of Urinary Surgery, Taizhou Municipal Hospital, Taizhou 318000, Zhejiang, China tzhospital.com
Search for more papers by this authorDian Yu
College of Second Clinical Medicine, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, Zhejiang, China zcmu.edu.cn
Search for more papers by this authorWei Zhang
Department of Endocrinology, Taizhou Municipal Hospital, Taizhou, Zhejiang, China tzhospital.com
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Dongling Zhou
Department of Nursing, Taizhou Municipal Hospital, Taizhou, Zhejiang, China tzhospital.com
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Shuangchun Liu
Department of Blood Transfusion Division, Taizhou Municipal Hospital, Taizhou, Zhejiang, China tzhospital.com
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Gegen Qinlian Decoction (GQD), a classic Chinese herbal formula, has been widely used in Chinese clinic for centuries and is well defined in treating nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, the mechanism action of GQD on NAFLD is still rarely evaluated. The present study aims to investigate the effect of GQD on treatment of NAFLD in rats and to further explore the underlying mechanism. The rat NAFLD model established by high-fat-diet feeding was used in the research. Our results exhibited the liver lesions and steatosis was significantly alleviated in NAFLD rats treated with GQD via Oil Red O and H&E staining. Body weight and liver index in GQD groups were reduced significantly (P < 0.05). Moreover, the biochemical analyzer test results showed that GQD significantly decreased blood lipid levels total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and liver injury indicators alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP), while it increased the level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (P < 0.05). The levels of interferon-β (IFN-β), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and malondialdehyde (MDA) after the GQD treatment were significantly lower, and then interleukin-2 (IL-2), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) levels were lifted significantly (P < 0.05). Further, GQD blocked the expression of NLRP3, ASC, caspase-1 mRNA, and proteins in the liver tissues significantly (P < 0.05). These findings indicated that GQD can ameliorate the hepatic steatosis and injury of NAFLD. Its possible mechanism involves the modulation of inflammatory cytokines and antioxidative stress and the inhibition of NLRP3 signal axis activation. The results support that GQD may be a promising candidate in the treatment of NAFLD.
Conflicts of Interest
All authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this article.
Open Research
Data Availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Supporting Information
| Filename | Description |
|---|---|
| ecam6659445-sup-0001-f1.zipapplication/x-compressed, 283.2 KB | Supplementary Materials Supplementary Figure S1: the original western blots of the NLRP3 signal axis proteins in liver tissue of NAFLD rat. Supplementary Figure S2: graphical abstract. |
Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
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