Vitamin C Deficiency May Delay Diet-Induced NASH Regression in the Guinea Pig

Abstract

Oxidative stress is directly linked to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and the progression to steaotohepatitis (NASH). Thus, a beneficial role of antioxidants in delaying disease progression and/or accelerating recovery may be expected, as corroborated by recommendations of, e.g., vitamin E supplementation to patients. This study investigated the effect of vitamin C deficiency—often resulting from poor diets low in fruits and vegetables and high in fat—combined with/without a change to a low fat diet on NAFLD/NASH phenotype and hepatic transcriptome in the guinea pig NASH model. Vitamin C deficiency per se did not accelerate disease induction. However, the results showed an effect of the diet change on the resolution of hepatic histopathological hallmarks (steatosis, inflammation, and ballooning) (p < 0.05 or less) and indicated a positive effect of a high vitamin C intake when combined with a low fat diet. Our data show that a diet change is important in NASH regression and suggest that a poor vitamin C status delays the reversion towards a healthy hepatic transcriptome and phenotype. In conclusion, the findings support a beneficial role of adequate vitamin C intake in the regression of NASH and may indicate that vitamin C supplementation in addition to lifestyle modifications could accelerate recovery in NASH patients with poor vitamin C status.

Vitamin C Deficiency Exacerbates Dysfunction of Atherosclerotic Coronary Arteries in Guinea Pigs Fed a High-Fat Diet

“…Plasma concentrations of vitC and markers of dyslipidemia are shown in Table 1 . The vitC deficiency of the HFDLoC group compared with the HFD group was confirmed ( p < 0.001), as were the expected effects of the high-fat diet discussed in detail elsewhere [ 33 ].…”

“…The present investigation was performed on a subset of animals as part of a larger controlled study on nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, the results of which have been published elsewhere [ 33 ]. Thus, the full experimental protocol of the in vivo study was described in detail previously [ 33 ].…”

“…The present investigation was performed on a subset of animals as part of a larger controlled study on nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, the results of which have been published elsewhere [ 33 ]. Thus, the full experimental protocol of the in vivo study was described in detail previously [ 33 ]. In short, 26 female guinea pigs weighing between 301 and 350 g (Charles River Laboratory, Lyon, France) were subjected to one week of acclimatization period on the control diet; then, they were randomly allocated into three weight-stratified groups: CTRL (N = 8), HFD (N = 8), and HFDLoC (N = 10; Figure 1 ).…”

“…VitC, vitamin C; FFA, free fatty acids; TG, triglycerides; TC, total cholesterol. Data adapted from ref [ 33 ].…”

Nutrición animal: Texto de formación universitaria

“…He et al, 2021). Los estudios con cuyes como modelo animal mostraron que la vitamina C revierte la esteatosis hepática no alcohólica (Skat-Rørdam et al, 2022).…”