Canthaxanthin shows anti-liver aging and anti-liver fibrosis effects by down-regulating inflammation and oxidative stress in vivo and in vitro

Abstract

The elderly population is growing rapidly all over the world. The aging population has brought great medical pressure to the society. It is found that aging is one of the pathogenic factors of liver fibrosis and liver cancer. Therefore, it is very important to explore functional foods with anti-aging, anti-fibrosis and anti-liver cancer effect. Therefore, in this work, we studied the potential effects of Canthaxanthin on liver aging, liver fibrosis and liver cancer. Firstly, we established the aging modelof liver cells by using H2O2. On this basis, the anti-aging effect of Canthaxanthin was analyzed, and the results showed that Canthaxanthin could significantly alleviate the aging of liver cells through Sa-β-Gal staining and analysis of the expression of aging related markers. In vivo, aged mice wereused as the animal model for studying the effect of anti-aging of Canthaxanthin. The results showed that Canthaxanthin could significantly alleviate the aging of liver in vivo. Further study show that Canthaxanthin may alleviatethe aging of liver cells by regulating SIRT6; Secondly, we evaluated the effect of Canthaxanthin on liver fibrosis. A model of liver fibrosis was established by CCl4. Masson and Sirius red staining showed that Canthaxanthin could significantly reduce the fibrosis area. Additionally, the level of liver inflammation was also reduced; Thirdly, the effect of Canthaxanthin on hepatoma cells has also been investigated. The resultsshowed that Canthaxanthin could promote the apoptosis of hepatoma cells in vivo and in vitro. To sum up, these results show that canthaxanthin can significantly alleviate liver aging and fibrosis, and Canthaxanthin can also promote the apoptosis of liver cancer cells, indicating that Canthaxanthin can be used as a potential drug or health food for the treatment of liveraging related diseases.