Effect of ginsenoside Rg1 on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and intestinal microbiota in rats

Abstract:

Objective To investigate the positive effects of ginsenoside Rg1 on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease（NAFLD） and regulation of the intestinal microbiota.Methods The 24 SD rats were randomly divided into the control group，high-fat and high-sugar （HFHS） group， ginsenoside Rg1 low dose treatment group，and ginsenoside Rg1 high dose treatment group. The NAFLD model rats were fed with HFHS diet. After 4 weeks’ treatment of ginsenoside Rg1，the rats were sacrificed under anesthesia. Then，their body weight and liver weight were measured. Meanwhile，the liver weight/body weight ratios were calculated. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay（ELISA） was used to detect the levels of total cholesterol（TC），triglyceride（TG），alanine aminotransferase（ALT），aspartate aminotransferase（AST），low density lipoprotein cholesterol（LDL-C），high density lipoprotein cholesterol（HDL-C），glutathione peroxidase（GSH-px），superoxide dismutase（SOD） and malondialdehyde（MDA） in peripheral blood serum. Hematoxylin eosin（HE） staining was used to observe liver steatosis. Additionally，16S rRNA gene bioinformatics analysis and statistics were conducted to detect the changes in microbial diversity of rats among the four groups.Results Ginsenoside Rg1 could reduce NAFLD-induced body weight（P<0.01） and liver weight（P<0.05）. The HE staining results showed that ginsenoside Rg1 intervention could effectively reduce liver steatosis in NAFLD rats（P<0.05）. ELISA test results showed that ginsenoside Rg1 intervention could reduce the expression of serum TG，TC，ALT，AST，LDL-C and MDA in NAFLD rats（P<0.05），while HDL-C and GSH-px were significantly increased after ginsenoside Rg1 intervention（P<0.05）. The α diversity results showed that high dosage ginsenoside Rg1 intervention could increase the community richness and community diversity of the intestinal microbiota in NAFLD rats（P<0.05）. The β diversity results showed that ginsenoside Rg1 intervention could change the structure of the intestinal microbiota in NAFLD rats（P<0.01）. The LEfSe（linear discriminant analysis effect size） analysis results showed that after high dose ginsenoside Rg1 intervention，the dominant species of intestinal microorganisms were Lachnospiraceae，Bifidobacterium，Bacteroides，Anaerobiospirillum and other intestinal probiotics.Conclusion Ginsenoside Rg1 intervention could alleviate liver fatty lesions and oxidative stress response in NAFLD rats. The pharmacological activity of ginsenoside Rg1 is probably related to the improvement of intestinal microbial structure and diversity，especially increasing the beneficial intestinal microbiota in NAFLD rats.