Sasa borealis stem extract attenuates hepatic steatosis in high-fat diet-induced obese rats

• Published in: Nutrients 2014-06, Vol.6 (6), p.2179-2195
• Main Authors: Song, Yuno, Lee, Soo-Jung, Jang, Sun-Hee, Ha, Ji Hee, Song, Young Min, Ko, Yeoung-Gyu, Kim, Hong-Duck, Min, Wongi, Kang, Suk Nam, Cho, Jae-Hyeon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal sciences; Animals; Antioxidants - chemistry; Antioxidants - pharmacology; Cholesterol; Cholesterol - blood; Diet; Dietary Fats - administration & dosage; Dietary Fats - adverse effects; Electronic mail systems; Fatty acids; Fatty Liver - chemically induced; Fatty Liver - prevention & control; Flavonoids - chemistry; Gene expression; hepatic gene expression; hepatic steatosis; high-fat diet; Insulin resistance; Lipids; Liver - drug effects; Liver cirrhosis; Liver diseases; Male; Metabolism; Obesity; Obesity - chemically induced; Organ Size - drug effects; Oxidation; Phenols - chemistry; Plant Extracts - chemistry; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; Plant Stems - chemistry; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Sasa - chemistry; Sasa borealis stem; Triglycerides - blood; Zoology
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu6062179

The aim of the current study is to examine the improving effect of Sasa borealis stem (SBS) extract extracts on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced hepatic steatosis in rats. To determine the hepatoprotective effect of SBS, we fed rats a normal regular diet (ND), HFD, and HFD supplemented with 150 mg/kg body weight (BW) SBS extracts for five weeks. We found that the body weight and liver weight of rats in the HFD + SBS group were significantly lower than those in the HFD group. Significantly lower serum total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) concentrations were observed in the SBS-supplemented group compared with the HFD group. We also found that the HFD supplemented with SBS group showed dramatically reduced hepatic lipid accumulation compared to the HFD alone group, and administration of SBS resulted in dramatic suppression of TG, TC in the HFD-induced fatty liver. In liver gene expression within the SBS treated group, PPARα was significantly increased and SREBP-1c was significantly suppressed. SBS induced a significant decrease in the hepatic mRNA levels of PPARγ, FAS, ACC1, and DGAT2. In conclusion, SBS improved cholesterol metabolism, decreased lipogenesis, and increased lipid oxidation in HFD-induced hepatic steatosis in rats, implying a potential application in treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.