Chaihu‐Shugan‐San Decoction Modulates Intestinal Microbe Dysbiosis and Alleviates Chronic Metabolic Inflammation in NAFLD Rats via the NLRP3 Inflammasome Pathway

Figures

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  Figure 1. The herbal formula Chaihu-Shugan-San. (a) HPLC graphs of the Chaihu-Shugan-San decoction. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was performed to identify the phytochemical profiles of the Chaihu-Shugan-San decoction. (b) The main chemicals in the Chaihu-Shugan-San decoction were the following: 1, saikosaponin A; 2, ferulic acid; 3, neohesperidin; 4, naringin; 5, hesperidin; 6, paeoniflorin; 7, liquiritin; and 8, glycyrrhizic acid.

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  Figure 2. OTU principal component analysis (PCA). The vertical and ordinate are the first and second principal components, and the percentage in parentheses indicates the contribution of the principal component to the sample difference. The points on the graph indicate the individual samples. Different colors represent samples belonging to different groups.

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  Figure 3. Heat map of bacteria with changes between each two groups at the family level. Hierarchical clustering with a heat map shows the relative abundance of representative OTUs (i.e., samples with the greatest difference among the three group means from each family) selected due to differences corresponding to P < 0.05, obtained with differential expression analysis of the three groups. The OTUs are shown as phylum, class, order, and family.

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  Figure 4. The actual representation of individual species in the comparison group NC, HFD, and CH. (a) Enterobacteriaceae, (b) Staphylococcaceae, (c) Veillonella, and (d) Anaeroplasma, n=8.

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  Figure 5. Body weight, total body fat, lean mass, free water, and total body water in three SD rat groups fed a control diet or a HFD supplemented with Chaihu-Shugan-San for 16 weeks. #P < 0.05 NC versus HFD, ##P < 0.01 NC versus HFD, ∗P < 0.05 HFD versus CH, ∗∗P < 0.01 HFD versus CH, n=6-8.

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  Figure 6. Serum and liver TC, TG, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-18 in three groups: SD rats fed a control diet or a HFD supplemented with Chaihu-Shugan-San for 16 weeks. #P < 0.05 NC versus HFD, ##P < 0.01 NC versus HFD, ∗P < 0.05 HFD versus CH, and ∗∗P < 0.01 HFD versus CH, n=6.

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  Figure 7. Serum LPS and protein expression of TLR4, NLRP3, ASC, Caspase-1, and NF-kB p65 in SD rats fed a control diet or a HFD supplemented with Chaihu-Shugan-San for 16 weeks. These proteins were quantified via western blotting in the hepatic tissue. #P < 0.05 NC versus HFD, ##P < 0.01 NC versus HFD, ∗P < 0.05 HFD versus CH, and ∗∗P < 0.01 HFD versus CH, n=4.