Red and golden tomato administration improves fat diet-induced hepatic steatosis in rats by modulating HNF4α, Lepr, and GK expression

Figure 1. Schematic representation of different color classes of tomatoes: green (A), pre-veraison (B), and veraison (C).

Figure 2. Experimental phases of the study, including adaptation phase (1 week), MetS induction phase (8 weeks), and nutritional treatment (4 weeks). The experimental groups were NPD (consuming normal pellet diet and treated with vehicle), HFD (consuming high-fat diet and treated with vehicle), HFD-GT (consuming high-fat diet and treated with golden tomato), and HFD-RT (consuming high-fat diet and treated with red tomato).

Figure 3. Body weight gains (g) were evaluated for 5 weeks from the MetS induction phase (week 1) to the end of the nutritional treatment phase (weeks 2–5). Statistical significance by a two-way RM ANOVA was indicated for (**) p < 0.001 of HFD/GT and HFD/RT vs. HFD; for (#) p < 0.001 of HFD/GT, HFD/RT, and HFD vs NPD.

Figure 4. HOMA Index of the experimental groups. One-way ANOVA comparisons between groups for ***p = 0.0001 and ****p < 0.0001.

Figure 5. Representative images of the histological evaluation of the liver parenchyma on hematoxylin and eosin staining. [(A, B) Control NPD; (C, D) HFD; (E, F) HFD/RT; (G, H) HFD/GT]. (A, C, E, G) Magnification 200×, scale bar 50 μm. (B, D, F, H) Magnification 400×, scale bar 20 μm. (I) Percentage of steatosis. Data are presented as the mean ± SD. NPD vs HFD: p < 0.001, NPD vs HFD/RT: p < 0.001; NPD vs HFD/GT: p < 0.001; HFD vs HFD/RT: p < 0.001; HFD vs HFD/GT: p < 0.001; HFD/RT vs HFD/GT: p < 0.01.

Figure 6. Relative changes in the fold expression of the genes involved in rat fatty liver pathways with a p-value cutoff of 0.05. The analysis was performed in genes differentially expressed with respect to the HFD control group in dependence on the nutrition supplementation with red tomatoes (red bars) and golden tomatoes (yellow bars).