Genipin Reverses HFD-Induced Liver Damage and Inhibits UCP2-Mediated Pyroptosis in Mice

作者：Hong Zhong, Mengting Liu, Yaya Ji, Minjuan Ma, Kun Chen, Tingming Liang, Chang Liu · 发表于：Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry · 年份：2018 · DOI：10.1159/000493651 · 被引用次数：38 · 研究领域：Inflammasome and immune disorders、Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment、Adipose Tissue and Metabolism

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Liver damage is a typical manifestation of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). It originates from excessive fat accumulation, leading to hepatocyte death, inflammation, and fibrosis. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a type of NAFLD with a prevalence of 49% in morbidly obese patients. Pyroptosis plays an important role in the development of NASH; thus, it is important to elucidate the effect of lipid accumulation on pyroptosis. Genipin (GNP), a natural water-soluble cross-linking agent, has hepatoprotective effects and decreases lipid accumulation in the liver; however, the mechanisms underlying these effects are unknown. METHODS: In this study, qPCR and Western blot were used to examine pyroptotic gene expression in high-fat diet (HFD) induced obese mice and free fatty acids (FFAs) treated hepatocytes. At the same time, relative lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release and Hoechst & propidium iodide (PI) staining were done to verify cell death. To explore the molecular mechanism, cell transfection were constructed with siRNA or plasmid to obtain knockdown or overexpression hepatocytes. RESULTS: We found that HFD-fed mice and FFAs-treated hepatocytes had obvious pyroptosis, and addition of GNP reversed liver damage and inhibited pyroptosis both in vitro and in vivo. Besides, UCP2 knockdown cells showed suppressed FFAs-mediated pyroptosis, as determined by decreased pyroptotic gene expression, reduced lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, and reduced cell...