Amelioration of Intestinal Barrier Dysfunction by Berberine in the Treatment of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Rats
1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 2, 2★★ Corresponding author
- 1Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University of Engineering, Handan 056038, China.
- 2Department of Gastroenterology, Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang 050051, China.
- 3Department of Infectious Diseases, Handan County Hospital, Handan 056001, China.
CORRESPONDENCE
Yuzhen Wang
Department of Gastroenterology, Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang 050051, China.
Received: 28-12-2016; Revised: 01-02-2017.
Volume 13, Issue 52 · pp. 677–682 · 2017 · DOI: 10.4103/pm.pm_584_16
ABSTRACT
Objective: To investigate the effect of berberine (BBR) on intestinal barrier function in nonalcoholic fat liver disease (NAFLD) in rats.Materials and Methods: Rats were divided into three groups: normal diet group (control group [CON group]), high‑fat diet feeding group (HFD group), and HFD with BBR group. After 8 weeks of HFD feeding, rats in the BBR group were given BBR intragastrically at a dose of 150 mg/kg daily for 4 weeks. The same volume of normal saline was given to the CON and HFD groups. Liver index was detected, and Sudan black B staining was used to study fatty degeneration, also the expression level of occluding and intestinal flora was analyzed.Results: BBR administration significantly reduced HFD‑induced increase in body weight (CON group: 379.83 ± 61.51 g, HFD group: 485.24 ± 50.15 g, and BBR group: 428.60 ± 37.37 g). It obviously alleviated the HFD‑induced liver fatty degeneration and histopathological changes of intestinal mucosa according to liver index low‑density lipoprotein‑cholesterol, high‑density lipoprotein‑cholesterol, and total cholesterol (P < 0.05). The triglyceride, alanine transaminase, and aspartate aminotransferase levels were greatly elevated after BBR treatment (P < 0.05); while endotoxin, intestinal fatty acid‑binding protein, and tumor necrosis factor‑α were significantly reduced (P < 0.05). Moreover, we found that BBR could obviously elevate the level of occludin and decrease the level of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and upregulate the level of bacteroides.Conclusion: BBR provides significant protection in NAFLD through ameliorating intestinal barrier function.
KEYWORDS
REFERENCES
As publishedShowing references and in-text citations exactly as published.
Cite this article
SELECT FORMAT
Li, D., Zheng, J., Hu, Y., Hou, H., Hao, S., Liu, N., & Wang, Y. (2017). Amelioration of Intestinal Barrier Dysfunction by Berberine in the Treatment of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Rats. Pharmacognosy Magazine, 13(52), 677–682. https://doi.org/10.4103/pm.pm_584_16