Abstract:

This study aimed to investigate the preventive and therapeutic effects of piperlonguminine (GBN) on alcoholic
fatty liver disease (AFLD) in mice. Adult male Kunming mice were randomly divided into four groups: normal control,
model, GBN low dose and high dose groups. The mice in normal control group were fed with a normal diet, and those in the
other groups were fed with high-fat diet, and, at the same time, administered with alcohol daily at a level of 0.8 mL/30 g bw.
The mice in GBN low and high dose groups were intragastrically administered with 0.8 mL/30 g bw of GBN at doses
of 10 and 40 mg/(kg·d), respectively, and the normal control and model groups were given equal volume of distilled
water, continuously for 6 weeks. After 12 h of fasting following the last administration, all the mice were sacrificed
for the measurement of liver index, aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), total cholesterol (TC)
and triglyceride (TG) levels in serum and the pathological histological observation of liver tissue. Compared with the
model group, the low and high dose groups significantly decreased liver index to (4.42 ± 0.50)% and (4.53 ± 0.44)%,
respectively. Also, the levels of AST, ALT, TC and TG in serum were significantly decreased (P ＜ 0.01). And pathological
histology showed that GBN obviously improved hepatocyte fatty degeneration of alcoholic fatty liver in mice. In conclusion,
GBN can effectively prevent the occurrence and development of alcoholic fatty liver.

Key words: piperlonguminine, alcoholic fatty liver disease, blood fat, alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, liver tissue slices