Copyright
©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Huangqin decoction alleviates lipid metabolism disorders and insulin resistance in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease by triggering Sirt1/NF-κB pathway
Bao-Fei Yan, Lan-Fen Pan, Yi-Fang Quan, Qian Sha, Jing-Zheng Zhang, Yi-Feng Zhang, Li-Bing Zhou, Xi-Long Qian, Xiao-Mei Gu, Feng-Tao Li, Ting Wang, Jia Liu, Xian Zheng
Bao-Fei Yan, Jing-Zheng Zhang, Feng-Tao Li, Jia Liu, College of Pharmacy, Jiangsu Health Vocational College, Nanjing 211800, Jiangsu Province, China
Lan-Fen Pan, Department of Pathology, Affiliated Kunshan Hospital of Jiangsu University, Kunshan 215300, Jiangsu Province, China
Yi-Fang Quan, Department of Education and Science, The First People's Hospital of Taicang, Kunshan 215400, Jiangsu Province, China
Qian Sha, Department of Pharmacy, Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221006, Jiangsu Province, China
Yi-Feng Zhang, School of Pharmacy, Nantong University, Nantong 226019, Jiangsu Province, China
Li-Bing Zhou, Xiao-Mei Gu, Ting Wang, Xian Zheng, Department of Pharmacy, Affiliated Kunshan Hospital of Jiangsu University, Kunshan 215300, Jiangsu Province, China
Xi-Long Qian, School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu Province, China
Author contributions: Yan BF, Pan LF, and Quan YF contributed equally to this work and performed the research; Liu J and Zheng X designed the research and proofread the manuscript; Sha Q, Zhang JZ, and Zhou LB analyzed the data; Zhang YF carefully revised the manuscript; Qian XL, Gu XM, Li FT, and Wang T interpreted the data; All authors approved the final version of the article.
Supported by the Scientific Research Project of Jiangsu Health Commission, No. Z2022078; the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, No. BK20220299.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board at Jiangsu Health Vocational College.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: The experimental protocols strictly complied with the European Community criteria and were authorized by the Animal Ethics Committee of Jiangsu Health Vocational College (Permission No. JHVC-IACUC-2022-B007).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
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 NonCommercial (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:
https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Corresponding author: Xian Zheng, PhD, Pharmacist, Postdoc, Department of Pharmacy, Affiliated Kunshan Hospital of Jiangsu University, No. 566 Qianjin East Road, Development Zone, Kunshan 215300, Jiangsu Province, China. zhengxiannew@163.com
Received: April 27, 2023
Peer-review started: April 27, 2023
First decision: July 9, 2023
Revised: July 23, 2023
Accepted: July 31, 2023
Article in press: July 31, 2023
Published online: August 21, 2023
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease, for which no effective therapeutic drugs have been approved. Huangqin decoction (HQD), a traditional Chinese medicine, has been widely used to treat liver diseases in clinical practice. Our study confirmed that HQD effectively mitigates high-fat diet (HFD)-induced hepatic inflammation. However, whether HQD has ameliorative effects on lipid metabolism disorders and insulin resistance, as well as the underlying mechanisms, remains unclear.
Research motivation
Convincing evidence for HQD in the clinical treatment of NAFLD is required.
Research objectives
This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic efficacy of HQD on lipid metabolism disorders and insulin resistance and explore the possible molecular mechanisms by focusing on the Sirt1/NF-κB pathway.
Research methods
High-performance liquid chromatography was used to identify the key components of HQD. HFD-induced NAFLD rats and palmitic acid-induced HepG2 cells were treated with HQD to investigate the mitigating effects of HQD on lipid metabolism disorders and insulin resistance. Finally, molecular biology techniques, including western blotting, immunohistochemistry, and immunofluorescence, were applied to explore the protein expression in the Sirt1/NF-κB pathway.
Research results
Ten key components of HQD were identified. The results showed that HQD effectively prevented lipid metabolism disorders in rats and HepG2 cells, inflammatory responses, and insulin resistance. Mechanistic exploration revealed that triggering Sirt1/NF-κB pathway-modulated lipogenesis and inflammation contributed to the favorable effects of HQD, which was further validated by the addition of EX-527 (a Sirt1 antagonist).
Research conclusions
Supported by our previous findings, we strongly believe that HQD is a promising complementary or auxiliary agent for the clinical treatment of NAFLD.
Research perspectives
HQD has been used to treat liver diseases in clinical practice for decades, with positive outcomes. More in-depth and precise research on the molecular mechanisms of HQD could guide and promote the clinical treatment of NAFLD more effectively.
