机构:[1]Department of Biochemistry, Kunming Medical University, Kunming 650031, China[2]Department of Pathology, Yan’an Hospital, Kunming 650051, China[3]Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Kunming Medical University, Kunming 650032, China内科科室心脏内科昆明医科大学附属第一医院
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with increased plasma homocysteine level, which is caused by down-regulation of hepatic cystathionine beta-synthase (CBS) activity. CBS catalyzes the first step in the transsulfuration of homocysteine to cysteine, which contributes similar to 50% of the cysteine required for hepatic biosynthesis of glutathione (GSH), the most abundant antioxidant in cells. As the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists (e.g. exendin-4) effectively reverse hepatic steatosis, the effect of exendin-4 on both homocysteine and redox status was investigated in the livers of rats fed with high-fat diet (HFD). It was found that HFD down-regulated CBS protein expression, which was probably due to induction of rno-miR-376c expression in the liver. The level of GSH was markedly reduced, whereas the level of malonydialdehyde, an indicator of lipid peroxidation, was significantly increased in the livers of rats fed with HFD. Exendin-4 treatment increased hepatic CBS protein and GSH levels, and reduced malonydialdehyde level in hyperlipidemic rats. Our findings suggest that GLP-1 receptor agonists have beneficial effects on redox homeostasis in NAFLD.
基金:
This work was supported by the grants from the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (No. 81360128) and the Natural Science
Foundation of Yunnan Province, China (No. 2013FZ052).