Alcohol Induces More Severe Fatty Liver Disease by Influencing Cholesterol Metabolism

Objectives. Fatty liver disease (FLD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Dietary cholesterol and alcohol consumption are important risk factors for the progression of FLD, but whether and how alcohol induces more severe FLD with cholesterol ingestion remain unclear. Herein, we ma...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bo Li, Shan-Shan Lei, Jie Su, Xia-Miao Cai, Hao Xu, Xinglishang He, Ye-Hui Chen, Hai-Xia Lu, He Li, Liu-Qing Qian, Xiang Zheng, Gui-Yuan Lv, Su-Hong Chen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2019-01-01
Series:Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/7095684
Description
Summary:Objectives. Fatty liver disease (FLD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Dietary cholesterol and alcohol consumption are important risk factors for the progression of FLD, but whether and how alcohol induces more severe FLD with cholesterol ingestion remain unclear. Herein, we mainly used the Lieber-DeCarli diet to establish the FLD mouse model to investigate the synergistic effects of alcohol and cholesterol metabolism on liver damage. The indices of aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), and total cholesterol (TC) levels, inflammation foci, and pathogenesis by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Oil Red O staining revealed that alcohol induces more severe liver damage by influencing cholesterol metabolism, which might be primarily related to the influence of cholesterol absorption, synthesis, and excretion on the liver or small intestine. Moreover, inhibition of absorption of intestinal cholesterol, but not of fat, sucrose, and alcohol, absorption into the body’s metabolism by Ezetimibe, significantly improved FLD in rats fed with the high fat-cholesterol-sucrose and alcohol diet. These results showed that alcohol plays an important role in cholesterol metabolism in FLD.
ISSN:1741-427X
1741-4288