Baicalein alleviates non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in mice by ameliorating intestinal barrier dysfunction

作者：Chunyu Guo, Qingjun Li, Rihong Chen, Wenhui Fan, Xin Zhang, Yuqian Zhang, Lanping Guo, Xiao Wang, Xinyan Qu, Hongjing Dong · 发表于：Food & Function · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1039/d2fo03015b · 被引用次数：36 · 研究领域：Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment、Flavonoids in Medical Research、Neurological Disease Mechanisms and Treatments

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the main cause of chronic liver disease, and its pathological development is closely related to the gut-liver axis. The intestinal barrier, an important component of the gut-liver axis, can prevent gut microbes and endotoxins from entering the liver. Intestinal barrier function is impaired in patients with NAFLD. Baicalein, which is the main flavonoid in Scutellariae Radix, can improve NAFLD. However, whether baicalein alleviates NAFLD by ameliorating intestinal barrier dysfunction remains unclear. In this study, a methionine-choline deficient (MCD) diet-induced NAFLD mouse model is used. The effects of baicalein on lipid accumulation, inflammation and the intestinal barrier in MCD-fed mice were evaluated by detecting blood lipid levels, lipid accumulation, liver pathological changes, inflammatory factors, inflammatory signaling pathways, the three main short-chain fatty acids (acetate, propionate and butyrate), intestinal permeability and intestinal tight junction protein expression. Compared with the MCD-only group, baicalein intake decreased the serum and liver lipid levels. Moreover, the accumulation of lipid droplets and steatosis in the liver were also alleviated; all these results demonstrated that baicalein could alleviate NAFLD. Meanwhile, the levels of inflammatory cytokines decreased in the baicalein group. Further investigation of the mucosal permeability to 4 kDa fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran, concentrations of sh...