Abstract
This study explored the effects of chicken bile powder (CBP), a 2000-year-old Chinese medicine, on α-naphthyl isothiocyanate (ANIT)-induced intrahepatic cholestasis in mice. CBP treatment for 14 days significantly ameliorated ANIT-induced changes in serum alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, bile acids, bilirubin, γ-glutamyl transpeptidase, alkaline phosphatase, and liver tissue morphology. Serum metabolomics showed changes in 24 metabolites in ANIT-exposed mice; 16 of these metabolites were reversed by CBP treatment via two main pathways (bile acid biosynthesis and arachidonic acid metabolism). Additionally, CBP administration markedly increased fecal and biliary bile acid excretion, and reduced total and hydrophobic bile acid levels in the livers of cholestatic mice. Moreover, CBP increased liver expression of bile acid efflux transporters and metabolic enzymes. It also attenuated ANIT-induced increases in hepatic nuclear factor-κB-mediated inflammatory signaling, and increased liver expression of the nuclear farnesoid X receptor (FXR) in cholestatic mice. CBP also activated FXR in vitro in HEK293T cells expressing mouse Na+-taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide. It did not ameliorate the ANIT-induced liver injuries in FXR-knockout mice. These results suggested that CBP provided protection from cholestatic liver injury by restoring bile acid homeostasis and reducing inflammation in a FXR-dependent manner.
Highlights
Intrahepatic cholestasis is a clinical syndrome associated with the systemic and intrahepatic accumulation of toxic bile acids (BAs), which cause hepatobiliary injury [1]
chicken bile powder (CBP) administration reversed ANIT-induced increases in serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP), γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (γ-GT), total bilirubin (TBIL), direct bilirubin (DBIL), and total BAs (TBA); these are all biomarkers of cholestasis (Figure 1A and Supplementary Figure 1)
Abnormal dilatation of the endoplasmic reticulum was found in the ANIT-treated group using electron microscopic analysis, and this was significantly ameliorated by CBP (Figure 1C)
Summary
Intrahepatic cholestasis is a clinical syndrome associated with the systemic and intrahepatic accumulation of toxic bile acids (BAs), which cause hepatobiliary injury [1]. Drug intervention [7,8,9,10], pregnancy [11], and gene mutation [12, 13] can alter the expression or function of efflux transporters and metabolic enzymes. This can result in the hepatic retention of toxic BAs, which can damage the liver by inducing mitochondrial dysfunction and hepatocyte apoptosis or necrosis [14, 15]. Activation of FXR provides multiple benefits that can reduce cholestatic liver injury, including the induction of efflux transporters and modulation of metabolic enzyme expression [18, 19]. Activation of FXR represents a therapeutic target for intrahepatic cholestasis
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