Interventional effect of electro-acupuncture on the lipid metabolism and inflammation factor of nonalcoholic fatty liver in rats

Abstract:

Objective：To observe the effect of electro-acupuncture（EA） on blood lipid，liver function，histology of liver tissue，tumor necrosis factor-α（TNF-α），interleukin-6（IL-6） and interleukin-18（IL-18） in rats with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease（NAFLD） so as to investigate effect of EA intervention on NAFLD. Methods：Totally 48 male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups：normal group，model group，early intervention group，late intervention group. Rats in normal group were fed with normal-fat diet. Rats in the other three groups were fed with high-fat diet for five weeks to form non-alcoholic fatty liver model. At the end of the fifth week，one rat in each group was killed to verify the forming of fatty liver model. Rats in early intervention group were treated with EA at one week after feeding with high fat diet .Rats in late intervention group and early intervention group were treated with EA at the acupoints of Zusanli，Fenglong and Sanyinjiao for 20 min once a day for a consecutive 21 d. In the wake of the 21st d，changes in glutamic-pyruvic transaminase（ALT），glutamic oxalacetic transaminase（AST），total cholesterol（TC），triglyceride（TG），TNF-α，IL-6，IL-18 of rats in each group were observed. Results：Expressions of ALT，AST，TC，TG，TNF-α，IL-6，IL-18 were all higher in model group than in the other three groups，with statistically significant differences（F=103.235，148.117，7.496，6.343，11.402，16.498，11.525；P=0.000，0.000，0.000，0.001，0.000，0.000，0.000）. Expressions of ALT，AST，TC，TG，TNF-α，IL-6，IL-18 were significantly reduced in two intervention groups than in model group，with statistical significances（P<0.05）. Conclusion：EA can treat NAFLD through alleviation of blood lipid and inflammation.