Abstract
BackgroundNonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease in the Western world, and it’s likely to parallel the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes, obesity, and other components of metabolic syndrome. However, optimal treatment for NAFLD has not been established yet. Therefore, this study investigated the hepatoprotective effect of silymarin on fructose-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in rats.MethodsThirty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups; normal control group that consumed tap water, silymarin control group that consumed tap water and silymarin (400 mg/kg/day), fructose control group that consumed 20% fructose solution, treatment group that consumed 20% fructose solution and silymarin (200 mg/kg/day), and another treatment group that consumed 20% fructose solution and silymarin (400 mg/kg/day). Hepatic triglyceride, serum lipid profile, lipid peroxidation, antioxidant level, morphological features, and histopathological changes were investigated. The data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey multiple comparison test. Statistical significance was determined at p < 0.05.ResultsThis study showed that the fructose control group had a significantly high value in the stage of steatosis grade, hepatic triglyceride, serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and hepatic malondialdehyde concentration as compared to the normal control. However, significantly low values of reduced glutathione and plasma total antioxidant capacity were found. The altered parameters due to fructose drastic effect were ameliorated by silymarin treatment.ConclusionsThe fructose control group developed dyslipidemia, oxidative stress, and mild steatosis that are the characteristics features of NAFLD. However, silymarin-treated groups showed amelioration in oxidative stress, dyslipidemia, and steatosis.
Highlights
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease in the Western world, and it’s likely to parallel the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes, obesity, and other components of metabolic syndrome
Our study aimed to evaluate the hepatoprotective effect of silymarin in fructose-induced NAFLD rats
NAFLD is a disease that can be defined by evidence of hepatic steatosis either by imaging or by histology first and secondly confirming whether there are no causes for secondary hepatic fat accumulation such as significant alcohol consumption, use of steatogenic medication, or hereditary disorders [32]
Summary
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease in the Western world, and it’s likely to parallel the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes, obesity, and other components of metabolic syndrome. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease in the Western world, and its prevalence is likely to parallel the increasing prevalence of diabetes, obesity, and other components of metabolic syndrome [1]. NAFLD has a wide spectrum of liver damage which ranges from simple steatosis to inflammation and to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, and cirrhosis [2]. NAFL D is thought of as the hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome and is regarded as one of the most common liver diseases worldwide. Metabolic comorbidities associated with NAFLD included obesity (51.34%), type 2 diabetes (22.51%), hyperlipidemia (69.16%), hypertension (39.34%) and metabolic syndrome (42.54%) [5]
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