A herb mixture to ameliorate non-alcoholic fatty liver in rats fed a high-fat diet

Sang Keun Ha; Jin-Ah Lee; Donghwan Kim; Guijae Yoo; Inwook Choi

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18889

A herb mixture to ameliorate non-alcoholic fatty liver in rats fed a high-fat diet

Heliyon. 2023 Aug 2;9(8):e18889. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18889. eCollection 2023 Aug.

Authors

Sang Keun Ha^{1

2}, Jin-Ah Lee¹, Donghwan Kim¹, Guijae Yoo¹, Inwook Choi¹

Affiliations

¹ Food Functionality Research Division, Korea Food Research Institute, Wanju-gun, Republic of Korea.
² Division of Food Biotechnology, University of Science and Technology, Daejeon, South Korea.

Abstract

This study was performed to investigate the effects of an herb extract mixture (HM) in ameliorating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The HM contained equal amounts of 70% ethanol extracts from Zingiber officinale, Centella asiatica, and Boehmeria nivea. In vitro, the HM significantly inhibited lipid accumulation in oleic acid-stimulated HepG2 cells. We further evaluated the anti-NAFLD activities of the HM in vivo in an animal model. Rats were fed two different amounts of the HM (50 and 200 mg/kg body weight) along with a high-fat diet for 6 weeks. HM supplementation reduced liver weight; epididymal, peri-renal, and intra-abdominal fat content; and serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels as well as increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in a dose-dependent manner. Histological evaluation of liver specimens further demonstrated that administration of HM significantly prevented hepatic lipid accumulation and subsequent development of hepatic steatosis. These findings suggest that HM can be used as an alternative nutraceutical for ameliorating NAFLD.

Keywords: Boehmeria nivea; Centella asiatica; Combinatorial herb extract; Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; Zingiber officinale.