The Preliminary Results for Evaluating Cocoa Butter’s Hepatoprotective Effects against Lipid Accumulation and Inflammation in Adult Male Rats Chronically Fed Ethanol

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify the role of saturated fats from cocoa butter (plant source) compared with lard (animal source) on alcoholic liver damage in rats. Male Wistar rats were fed either a control diet (C) or an ethanol diet (E), and the dietary fats (corn oil, olive oil, and safflower oil) of these two diets were further replaced by lard (CL, EL) or cocoa butter (CC, EC). After 8-week feeding, plasma aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activities, hepatic triglyceride (TG) levels, plasma intercellular adhesion molecular (ICAM)-1 levels, hepatic cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) protein expression, and hepatic interleukin (IL)-1β significantly increased in the E group compared to the C group. In addition, hepatic histopathological scores of fatty changes, inflammatory cell infiltration, and degeneration and necrosis in the E group were significantly higher compared to those in the C group. However, fatty changes were significantly inhibited only in the EC group as well as hepatic inflammatory cell infiltration, degeneration, and necrosis being significantly lower in the EL and EC groups. Plasma ICAM-1 and hepatic tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-10 levels were significantly lower in the EL and EC groups than those in the E group. Moreover, a correlation analysis showed that hepatic histopathological scores of degeneration and necrosis were significantly positively correlated with erythrocytic oleic acid (C18:1) and were negatively correlated with linoleic acid (C18:2). In conclusion, cocoa butter protected the liver against lipid accumulation and inflammation in rats chronically fed ethanol.

Plasma-Derived Exosomes from NAFLD Patients Modulate the Cannabinoid Receptors’ Expression in Cultured HepaRG Cells

“…Higher levels of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and the oleic acid/stearic acid ratio were detected both in the plasma-derived exosomes from NAFLD patients and in cell membranes treated with these plasma-exosomes ( Table 2 , p < 0.001 and p < 0.05). The oleic acid/stearic acid ratio is known as cellular inflammatory index and is positively associated with liver damage [ 30 ].…”

The Effect of Bioactive Aliment Compounds and Micronutrients on Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

“…A recent study [ 57 ] on rats fed an ethanol-enriched diet that causes alcoholic liver damage in rats evaluated the role of saturated fats from cocoa butter (plant source) compared to lard (animal source). After 8 weeks of feeding, plasma aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity, liver triglyceride (TG) levels, intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 levels, liver cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1), and liver protein expression were recorded.…”