Abstract
BackgroundSam-Hwang-Sa-Sim-Tang (SHSST) is a traditional Oriental medication that has been commonly used in Korea for the treatment of hypertension, insomnia, and chest pain. In addition, some studies reported that administration of SHSST results suppression of hyperlipidemia in rats or lowering lipid plasma level such as total cholesterol (TC). Those results made us find and demonstrate positive effect of SHSST much more. The aim of the current study was to examine whether SHSST exerts an effect against hepatic steatosis and two type of SHSST has different efficacy on liver steatosis.MethodsTotal 40 mice were divided randomly and equally into 4 groups: a normal diet (CON) group, high-cholesterol diet (HC) group, and treatment groups fed a high-cholesterol diet (HCD) with a 30% or 80% ethanol extract of SHSST (SHSST-L and SHSST-H, respectively). The HCD was given for 9 weeks. The SHSST-treated groups were orally administered SHSST at a dose of 150 mg/kg, whereas the other groups received physiological saline.ResultsSHSST administration to mice resulted in a decline in serum levels of total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein. Histological examination showed that lipid droplets were smaller in the SHSST-treated group than in the HC group. At the protein level, expression of sterol regulatory element-binding protein 2 (SREBP-2) was suppressed by SHSST. In addition, the mRNA expression of cholesterol metabolism-related molecules such as SREBP-2, liver X receptor (LXR), low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), and 3-hydroxy-3methylglutary-CoA (HMG-CoA) was also suppressed in SHSST-treated groups in the liver. In the aorta tissue, SHSST decreased the expression of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1(VCAM-1), transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, and fibronectin.ConclusionsThe present study indicates that SHSST protects against liver steatosis and protects vessels against inflammation arising from excessive ingestion of cholesterol. These findings may also suggest that SHSST could be used as an adjuvant remedy for protection against liver steatosis.
Highlights
Sam-Hwang-Sa-Sim-Tang (SHSST) is a traditional Oriental medication that has been commonly used in Korea for the treatment of hypertension, insomnia, and chest pain
There were no significant differences between the highcholesterol diet (HC) group and the SHSST-treated group with regard to food intake
To determine whether the reduced amount of lipid droplets in SHSST-treated mice was associated with expression of hepatic genes involved in lipid and cholesterol metabolism, we examined the expression of Sterol regulatory element binding transcription factor 2 (SREBP2), liver X receptor (LXR), low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), and HMG-CoA
Summary
Sam-Hwang-Sa-Sim-Tang (SHSST) is a traditional Oriental medication that has been commonly used in Korea for the treatment of hypertension, insomnia, and chest pain. Some studies reported that administration of SHSST results suppression of hyperlipidemia in rats or lowering lipid plasma level such as total cholesterol (TC). Those results made us find and demonstrate positive effect of SHSST much more. There were studies that reported SHSST-administrated rats showed the tendency of decline of several lipid plasma levels including total cholesterol and administration of SHSST suppressed the development of hyperlipememia [10,11]. Several studies have suggested that the efficacy of herbs could differ depending on the type of solvent, e.g., water, methanol, or ethanol, or the concentration of solvent used to extract the active ingredient [17,18,19,20]
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