Key result
Glycine improves NASH indexes and liver status in rats, driven by decreased endotoxin levels.
Why the study?
The protective effect of glycine against high fat and high sucrose diet-induced non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and its mechanisms were not fully understood.
Does glycine improve non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in rats fed a high fat and high sucrose diet?
Does glycine improve non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in rats fed a high fat and high sucrose diet?
Glycine protects against high sucrose and high fat-induced non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in rats by decreasing intestinal endotoxin and alleviating endoplasmic reticulum and oxidative stress.
Glycine attenuates diet-induced NASH in rats; leaves open translation to human steatohepatitis and should not yet change practice.
// Xin Zhou 1 , Dewu Han 1 , Ruiling Xu 1 , Huiwen Wu 1,2 , Chongxiao Qu 3 , Feng Wang 1 , Xiangyu Wang 4 and Yuanchang Zhao 1 1 Department of Pathophysiology, Basic Medical Science, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China 2 Science & technology center of Fenyang College, Shanxi Medical University, Fenyang, Shanxi, China 3 Department of Pathology, Shanxi Provincial People’s Hospital, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China 4 Department of Oral Medicine, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China Correspondence to: Dewu Han, email: // Keywords : glycine, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, intestinal endotoxin, endoplasmic reticulum stress, oxidative stress, Pathology Section Received : July 14, 2016 Accepted : October 12, 2016 Published : October 23, 2016 Abstract We set out to explore the hypothesis that glycine attenuates non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in rats and the possible mechanism by which is it does. Male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were fed a diet containing high fat and high sucrose (HSHF) for 24 weeks to induce NASH. Blood and liver tissues were sampled at selected time points throughout the study. Compared with control animals, the content of alanine transaminase (ALT), triglycerides (TGs), and free fatty acids (FFAs) in plasma and the TG and FFA content in the liver was increased from week 4 to 24. The level of TNF α and MCP-1 in plasma, the content of TNF α in the liver, the insulin resistance index, inflammatory cell infiltration, hepatocyte apoptosis, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and endoplasmic stress-associated protein expression were unaltered at 4 weeks. However, these levels were significantly elevated in HSHF fed rats at 12 weeks. At the same time, the level of endotoxin progressively increased from 0.08 ± 0.02 endotoxin EU/ml at week 4 to 0.7 ± 0.19 EU/ml at week 24. Moreover, these rats had elevated blood endotoxin levels, which were positively associated with their NASH indexes. Liver histology progressively worsened over the course of the study. However, we found that with concomitant treatment with glycine, the level of endotoxin decreased, while NASH indexes significantly decreased and liver status markedly improved,. These data support the hypothesis that glycine protects against NASH in rats by decreasing the levels of intestinal endotoxin, alleviating endoplasmic reticulum and oxidative stress.
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Zhou et al. (2016) studied non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Glycine vs. Control animals was evaluated on NASH indexes and liver status. Concomitant treatment with glycine decreased endotoxin levels and significantly improved NASH indexes and liver status in rats fed a high fat and high sucrose diet.
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