Zhu F, Li YM, Feng TT, Wu Y, Zhang HX, Jin GY, Liu JP. Freeze-dried Si-Ni-San powder can ameliorate high fat diet-induced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. World J Gastroenterol 2019; 25(24): 3056-3068 [PMID: 31293341 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i24.3056]
Corresponding Author of This Article
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
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Basic Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which 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/
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 Processing time: 127 Days and 21.5 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
The incidence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) dramatically increased in the last few decades. Unfortunately, until now, the clinical treatment of this common chronic liver disease is difficult, and some new effective therapies are needed.
Research motivation
Some herbal medicines have hepatoprotective effects, so we want to know if some famous prescriptions of traditional Chinese medicine can provide beneficial effects on NAFLD.
Research objectives
To explore the effects of Si-Ni-San, a famous prescription of traditional Chinese medicine, on NAFLD and intestinal microbiota.
Research methods
We intragastrically administered Si-Ni-San freeze-dried powder (5.0 g/kg) to mice, which were allowed ad libitum access to a high fat diet. After 12 wk of treatment, we measured body weight, liver index, visceral fat index, serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), portal lipopolysaccharide (LPS), liver tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, liver triglycerides and intestinal microbiota, and we compared the results of these parameters with mice in another group to find whether Si-Ni-San freeze-dried powder have some beneficial effects on NAFLD.
Research results
After Si-Ni-San freeze-dried powder treatment, the levels of body weight, liver index, visceral fat index, serum ALT, portal LPS, liver TNF-α and liver triglycerides were improved. The composition of intestinal microbiota was also changed, especially the Oscillospira genus.
Research conclusions
Si-Ni-San freeze-dried powder can ameliorate NAFLD by an anti-inflammatory action and intestinal microbiota-changing effect.
Research perspectives
Although we provide basis for the clinical use of Si-Ni-San freeze-dried powder and some underlying mechanisms of its action, the effects of Si-Ni-San freeze-dried powder on the metabolism of intestinal microbiota and some cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-1 and IL-6, need to be addressed in future studies.
