Metabolomic Fingerprinting in the Comprehensive Study of Liver Changes Associated with Onion Supplementation in Hypercholesterolemic Wistar Rats

Diana González-Peña,Danuta Dudzik,Begoña Ancos,Concepción Sánchez-Moreno,Antonia García,Coral Barbas

doi:10.3390/ijms18020267

Abstract

The consumption of functional ingredients has been suggested to be a complementary tool for the prevention and management of liver disease. In this light, processed onion can be considered as a source of multiple bioactive compounds with hepatoprotective properties. The liver fingerprint of male Wistar rats (n = 24) fed with three experimental diets (control (C), high-cholesterol (HC), and high-cholesterol enriched with onion (HCO) diets) was obtained through a non-targeted, multiplatform metabolomics approach to produce broad metabolite coverage. LC-MS, CE-MS and GC-MS results were subjected to univariate and multivariate analyses, providing a list of significant metabolites. All data were merged in order to figure out the most relevant metabolites that were modified by the onion ingredient. Several relevant metabolic changes and related metabolic pathways were found to be impacted by both HC and HCO diet. The model highlighted several metabolites (such as hydroxybutyryl carnitine and palmitoyl carnitine) modified by the HCO diet. These findings could suggest potential impairments in the energy−lipid metabolism, perturbations in the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) cycle and β-oxidation modulated by the onion supplementation in the core of hepatic dysfunction. Metabolomics shows to be a valuable tool to evaluate the effects of complementary dietetic approaches directed to hepatic damage amelioration or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) prevention.

Highlights

Hypercholesterolemia is a recognized risk factor in the initial stages of hepatic damage, acting as an accelerator in the onset and worsening of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) [1]
The pathological changes observed in the liver after seven weeks of high-cholesterol (HC) feeding corresponded with NAFLD symptomatology showing an evident hepatomegaly mainly due to lipid accumulation; altered biochemical parameters such as aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) enzymes and modified activity of antioxidant enzymes glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD)
Whereas an impaired hepatic function was clearly associated in the group fed the HC diet, the group fed the High-cholesterol enriched with onion (HCO) diet evidenced a significant enhancement of the antioxidant defense system

Summary

Introduction

Hypercholesterolemia is a recognized risk factor in the initial stages of hepatic damage, acting as an accelerator in the onset and worsening of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) [1]. The initial stages of NAFLD may evolve toward a broad spectrum of liver abnormalities progressing from non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) [2]. These pathological conditions may confer additional risk to vascular dysfunction at very early stages [3]. As the liver is highly influenced by the feeding pattern, its functions are amenable to change and regulate in response to modifications in the diet composition Both pathological circumstances requiring clinical intervention as well as a good health status may profit from the consumption of functional ingredients. These functional ingredients may intercede in the regulation of the mechanisms of liver damage, offering new possibilities as complementary tools in the management of liver disease [4,5]

Methods

Results

Conclusion