Key result
Betaine reduces hepatic lipid deposition and restores iron content in mice with NAFLD.
Why the study?
Whether and how betaine ameliorates high-fat diet-induced disruption of hepatic lipid and iron homeostasis remains elusive.
Does betaine alleviate high-fat diet-induced disruption of hepatic lipid and iron homeostasis in mice?
Does betaine alleviate high-fat diet-induced disruption of hepatic lipid and iron homeostasis in mice?
Betaine supplementation mitigates high-fat diet-induced NAFLD and iron dyshomeostasis in mice, potentially via epigenetic modification of lipogenic and iron-metabolic genes.
May support betaine in restoring hepatic lipid-iron balance in HFD mice; leaves open clinical translation for human NAFLD.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is characterized by excessive fat deposition in the liver, which is often associated with disrupted iron homeostasis. Betaine has been reported to be hepatoprotective, yet whether and how betaine ameliorates high-fat diet-induced disruption of hepatic lipid and iron homeostasis remains elusive. In this study, mice were fed either standard (CON) or high-fat diet (HFD) for 9 weeks to establish a NAFLD model. Mice raised on HF diet were then assigned randomly to HF and HFB groups, HFB group being supplemented with 1% (w/v) of betaine in the drinking water for 13 weeks. Betaine supplementation significantly alleviated excessive hepatic lipid deposition and restored hepatic iron content. Betaine partly yet significantly reversed HFD-induced dysregulation of lipogenic genes such as PRARγ and CD36, as well as the iron-metabolic genes including FPN and HAMP that encodes hepcidin. Similar mitigation effects of betaine were observed for BMP2 and BMP6, the up-stream regulators of hepcidin expression. Betaine significantly rectified disrupted expression of methyl transfer gene, including BHMT, GNMT and DNMT1. Moreover, HFD-modified CpG methylation on the promoter of PRARγ and HAMP genes was significantly reversed by betaine supplementation. These results indicate that betaine alleviates HFD-induced disruption of hepatic lipid and iron metabolism, which is associated with modification of CpG methylation on promoter of lipogenic and iron-metabolic genes.
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Li et al. (2022) studied Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Betaine vs. High-fat diet without betaine (HF group) was evaluated on Hepatic lipid deposition and hepatic iron content. Betaine supplementation significantly alleviated excessive hepatic lipid deposition and restored hepatic iron content in mice with high-fat diet-induced NAFLD.
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