Research Article Details

Article ID: A04296
PMID: 33673073
Source: Int J Mol Sci
Title: Effect of Chronic Western Diets on Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver of Male Mice Modifying the PPAR-γ Pathway via miR-27b-5p Regulation.
Abstract: Western diets contribute to metabolic diseases. However, the effects of various diets and epigenetic mechanisms are mostly unknown. Here, six week-old C57BL/6J male and female mice were fed with a low-fat diet (LFD), high-fat diet (HFD), and high-fat high-fructose diet (HFD-HF) for 20 weeks. We determined that HFD-HF or HFD mice experienced significant metabolic dysregulation compared to the LFD. HFD-HF and HFD-fed male mice showed significantly increased body weight, liver size, and fasting glucose levels with downregulated PPAR&#947;, SCD1, and FAS protein expression. In contrast, female mice were less affected by HFD and HFD-HF. As miR-27b contains a seed sequence in PPAR&#947;, it was discovered that these changes are accompanied by male-specific upregulation of miR-27b-5p, which is even more pronounced in the HFD-HF group (p < 0.01 vs. LFD) compared to the HFD group (p < 0.05 vs. LFD). Other miR-27 subtypes were increased but not significantly. HFD-HF showed insignificant changes in fibrosis markers when compared to LFD. Interestingly, fat ballooning in hepatocytes was increased in HFD-fed mice compared to HFD-HF fed mice, however, the HFD-HF liver showed an increase in the number of small cells. Here, we concluded that chronic Western diet-composition administered for 20 weeks may surpass the non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) stage but may be at an intermediate stage between fatty liver and fibrosis via miR-27b-5p-induced PPAR&#947; downregulation.
DOI: 10.3390/ijms22041822