Establishment Of An Alcohol-Induced Fatty Liver Model In Zebraflsh And Hepatoprotective Effect Of Gynura Formosana

The zebrafish as a new vertebrate model have been widely used in studies of modeling human diseases and drug screening by scientists of all ages. It is similar molecular mechanism of development process and intergrative physiological and pathological changes between the zebrafish liver and human liver. This study established zebrafish liver disease model through drinking alcohol freely, and aimed to explore the effects of the different polarity of Gynura formosana Kitam extraction on prevention and treatment of fatty liver in zebrafish. The main contents are as follows:(1) Male adult zebrafish model of alcoholic liver injury was established by administering alcohol(1.0%,V/V) to the zebrafish for 28 days;The results showed that alcoholic significantly increased the activities of aspartate aminotransferase(AST),alanine transaminase(ALT), total cholesterol(TC),hepatic triglyceride(TG) levels,malondialdehyde(MDA) and reduced the superoxidedismutase(SOD) in serum and liver.The results of liver histopathological examination showed that the characteristic features of alcoholic liver steatosis in the early stages of alcohol exposure, including fat droplet accumulation, ballooning degeneration of the hepatocytes,and Mallory body formation.Over the course of 1% ethanol exposure, lipogenesis and cholesterol synthesis genes were also up regulated by semiquantitative polymerase chain reaction(PCR).(2) zebrafish larvae model of alcoholic liver injury was established by acute alcohol(2.0%, V/V,) for 32 hours;The results showed that the larvae liver was swollenand egg yolk absorption of embryos was decreased through microscope observation.Oil red O staining revealed the liver lipid deposition was increased in the liver.The PCR results showed the upregulation of hepatic lipid and cholesterol metabolism-related genes.In addition,the alcoholic treatment could increase SOD activities,decrease MDA content in larvae. All these revealed that the active oxygen scavenging capacity was decreased, and the levels of oxidative stress wasincreased in larvae.(3) This study aimedto study the effects of extract from Gynura Divaricata(eGD) against the alcohol liver injury in zebrafish. The results showed that eGDshowed protective effects onthe alcohol liver injury by alcohol in zebrafish.Treatment with different dosese of eGD could increase adult zebrafish ALT、AST in serum and liver SOD activities,decrease MDA content in liver tissue(P< 0.05), reduce the liver inflammatoryeffectively. It also coule increase ALT,AST, SOD activities and decrease MDA content inlarvae homogenates,thusreduce the steatosis of liversignificantly.