Effects of blueberry on the expression of TNF-α-R1 and SREBP-1c in acute alcoholic fatty liver

Abstract:

Objective：To observe the effect of blueberry on the mRNA and protein expression of tumor necrosis factor（TNF）-α-R1 and sterol regulatory element-binding protein（SREBP）-1c in acute alcoholic fatty liver（AFL）. Methods：A total of 50 male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into normal control group（A），model group（B），high dose blueberry group（20.0 g/kg）（C），low dose blueberry group（10.0 g/kg）（D），and tiopronin group（30 mg/kg）（E），10 in each group. All mice except those in group A were fed with the Lieber-DeCarli diet for 15 d and were gastrogavaged with alcohol on the 16th day to induce AFL model. Mice in groups C－E were respec－tively administered with corresponding drugs by gastrogavage，once per day for 15 d. Detection of alanine transaminase（ALT），aspar－tate transaminase（AST），triglycerides（TG） and cholesterol（TC） in serum were performed by an automatic biochemical analyser. The level of TNF-α in serum was determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The morphological changes of the liver tissue were observed by HE staining. The mRNA and protein expressions of TNF-α-R1 and SREBP-1c in the liver tissue were determined by RT-PCR and Western blot，respectively. Results：Compared with those in group B，the levels of ALT，AST，TG，TC and TNF-α in serum were significantly lower（P=0.000 or P=0.025），the degree of hepatic steatosis and degen－erative necrosis were significantly improved in groups C－E（P=0.000），and the mRNA and protein expression of TNF-α-R1 and SREBP-1c were significantly lower in groups C－E（all P=0.000）. Conclusion：Blue berry has a good protective effect on acute AFL in mice，the mechanism is probably related to the inhibition of the expression of TNF-α-R1 and SREBP-1c.