Title: Investigating nutraceutical and pharmaceutical agents to prevent fatty liver in rats.
Meeting: Evaluating Bioactive Food Components in Obesity and Cancer Prevention.
Authors: Portia S Allen1, Andrew W Brown2,3, Michelle M Bohan Brown4, Donald C Beitz1,4
1Department of Animal Science, Iowa State University
2Nutrition Obesity Research Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham
3Office of Energetics, University of Alabama at Birmingham
4Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology, Iowa State University
Abstract:
Obesity is associated with increased risk of the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The prevalence in the general population of the United States has been estimated to be 17-34%. Given the increasing numbers of obese individuals, strategies for the prevention of NAFLD development are needed. The purpose of this study was to compare nutraceutical treatments of vitamin E and taurine with known pharmaceuticals of gemfibrozil, metformin and rosiglitazone in the prevention of fatty liver development. Male Sprague Dawley rats (n=61) at 11 weeks of age were fed either a standard 10% kcal fat diet or a choline deficient diet for 8 weeks. Rats were randomly assigned to one of six treatments: control, gemfibrozil (34 mg/kg), metformin (500 mg/kg), rosiglitazone (3 mg/kg), taurine (520 mg/kg) or vitamin E (200 mg/kg). Liver lipids were extracted and triacylglycerol (TAG) concentrations measured. The choline deficient diet failed to produce significant amount of liver TAG in comparison to control. Data was pooled between diets within a treatment group. Rosiglitazone treated rats had significantly lower liver lipid content in comparison to rats treated with gemfibrozil and vitamin E. There were no differences among the liver lipid content of control rats and rats treated with rosiglitazone, metformin or taurine. Rats treated with vitamin E had higher liver TAG concentrations in comparison to control rats and rats treated with gemfibrozil, metformin, or rosiglitazone. Liver TAG concentrations were not significantly different between rats treated with vitamin E and taurine. Nutraceutical treatment with vitamin E and taurine as nutraceuticals did not yield results significantly improved from control or pharmaceutical treatments. Vitamin E resulted in greater liver TAG accumulation.