Efficacy of Yinchenhao decoction in prevention and treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in rats and its effect on expression of NTCP in liver tissues

FU Yakun; YAN Lihui; LI Xin; GUAN Yue; LI Wang; MU Biao

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1002-266X.2019.02.010

Abstract：Objective To evaluate the efficacy of Yinchenhao decoction in prevention and treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease ( NAFLD) in rats, and to study its regulation on sodium taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide ( NTCP) expression and explore its mechanism. Methods Forty-five SD rats were randomly divided into three groups after one week adaptive feeding: the control group ( n = 15) , the high-fat diet model group ( n = 15) , and the Yinchenhao Decoction intervention group ( n = 15) . All rats were sacrificed in batches after 12 weeks, and the levels of blood sugar, body weight, liver weight, hepatosomatic index, as well as serology examinations of glutamic pyruvic transaminase, glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, triglyceride and bile acid were detected. The pathological changes were evaluated by Hematoxylin and Eosin ( HE) staining; the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction ( RT-PCR) and Western blotting were used to detect the expression of NTCP gene. Results Compared with the control group, the levels of ALT, AST, TBA, and TG all significantly increased in the model group ( all P < 0. 05) , while in the intervention group, the levels of ALT, AST, TBA, and TG all significantly decreased as compared with those of the model group ( all P < 0. 05) . There were no statistically significant differences between the intervention group and control group ( all P> 0. 05) . HE staining showed that vacuolar degeneration, inflammatory cell infiltration and brown-yellow bile droplets were found in the liver tissues in the model group.Whereas, these pathological changes all relieved to some degree in the intervention group. The mRNA and protein expression of NTCP was significantly down-regulated in the model group as compared with that of the control group ( P < 0. 05) while was up-regulated in the intervention group as compared with that of the model group ( P < 0. 05) . There were no statistically significant differences between the intervention group and control group ( all P> 0. 05) . Conclusion Yinchenhao decoction may improve the liver function and relieve pathological damage by up-regulating the expression of NTCP, and thus alleviate the cholestasis of NAFLD rats.