Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 28, 2019; 25(24): 3056-3068
Published online Jun 28, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i24.3056
Freeze-dried Si-Ni-San powder can ameliorate high fat diet-induced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Feng Zhu, Yong-Min Li, Ting-Ting Feng, Yue Wu, Hai-Xia Zhang, Guo-Yin Jin, Jian-Ping Liu
Feng Zhu, Yong-Min Li, Ting-Ting Feng, Yue Wu, Hai-Xia Zhang, Guo-Yin Jin, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou 075000, Hebei Province, China
Jian-Ping Liu, Department of Gastroenterology, People’s Hospital of Changshou District, Chongqing 401220, China
Author contributions: Li YM designed the research; Zhu F, Feng TT, Wu Y and Jin GY performed the research; Liu JP analyzed and interpreted the data; Liu JP and Zhang HX wrote the paper.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All procedures involving animals were reviewed and approved by the animal ethics committee of Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou, China (No.2016-1-0-06).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest related to this study.
Data sharing statement: Raw sequencing data are available from the corresponding author. Participants gave informed consent for data sharing.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yong-Min Li, MD, PhD, Full Professor, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hebei North University, No. 11, Diamond South Road, Zhangjiakou 075000, Hebei Province, China. zyxylym@hebeinu.edu.cn
Telephone: +86-313-4029228 Fax: +86-313-4029228
Received: February 21, 2019
Peer-review started: February 22, 2019
First decision: February 26, 2019
Revised: May 28, 2019
Accepted: May 31, 2019
Article in press: June 1, 2019
Published online: June 28, 2019
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common chronic liver disease worldwide. However, to date, there is no ideal therapy for this disease.

AIM

To study the effects of Si-Ni-San freeze-dried powder on high fat diet-induced NAFLD in mice.

METHODS

Twenty-four male C57BL/6 mice were randomized into three groups of eight. The control group (CON) was allowed ad libitum access to a normal chow diet. The high fat diet group (FAT) and Si-Ni-San group (SNS) were allowed ad libitum access to a high fat diet. The SNS group was intragastrically administered Si-Ni-San freeze-dried powder (5.0 g/kg) once daily, and the CON and FAT groups were intragastrically administered distilled water. After 12 wk, body weight, liver index, visceral fat index, serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), portal lipopoly-saccharide (LPS), liver tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and liver triglycerides were measured. Intestinal microbiota were analyzed using a 16S r DNA sequencing technique.

RESULTS

Compared with the FAT group, the SNS group exhibited decreased body weight, liver index, visceral fat index, serum ALT, portal LPS, liver TNF-α and liver triglycerides (P < 0.05). Intestinal microbiota analysis showed that the SNS group had different bacterial composition and function compared with the FAT group. In particular, Oscillospira genus was a bacterial biomarker of SNS group samples.

CONCLUSION

The beneficial effects of Si-Ni-San freeze-dried powder on high fat diet-induced NAFLD in mice may be associated with its anti-inflammatory and changing intestinal microbiota effects.

Keywords: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, Si-Ni-San, High fat diet, Intestinal microbiota, Inflammation

Core tip: We studied the effects of Si-Ni-San freeze-dried powder on high fat diet-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in mice. We found that Si-Ni-San freeze-dried powder ameliorated high fat diet-induced NAFLD in mice, and the mechanism of action of Si-Ni-San freeze-dried powder against NAFLD may be associated with its anti-inflammatory and changing intestinal microbiota effects. Our findings provide some useful information for therapy of NAFLD.