Abstract: Objective: To investigate the hepatoprotective effect of wild blueberry grown in China on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Methods: High-fat diet-induced obese mice were administrated with low, medium and high-dose blueberry homogenate (10, 20 and 40 g/(kg·d)) or blueberry anthocyanins (0.006, 0.012 and 0.024 g/(kg·d)) by gavage for 6 weeks. Then the activities of aspartate amino transferase (AST) and alanine amino transferase (ALT), and the contents of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in the sera of the mice as well as total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and the contents of glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in liver homogenates were determined. Results: Compared with the fatty liver model group, low-dose blueberry homogenate and medium- and high-dose blueberry anthocyanins significantly reduced the activities of AST and the ALT in mice (P < 0.05). Medium- and high-dose blueberry homogenate improved LDL-C content. Both the homogenate and anthocyanins at all doses significantly decreased TC and TG contents (P < 0.05) and at the medium and high doses could significantly increase T-AOC and GSH content and reduce MDA content in the liver of mice (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Anthocyanins from wild blueberry grown in China have good protective effects on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Key words: wild blueberry grown in China, anthocyanin, non-alcoholic fatty liver, hepatoprotective effect