Effects Of Qingfei Xiegan Decoction Of The Traditional Chinese Korean Medicine On AMPK Signaling Pathway In Type 2 Diabetic With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Rats

Objective:To investigate the effect and mechanism of Qingfei Xiegan Decoction（QFXGT）of the Traditional Chinese Korean on the AMPK signaling pathway in rats with type 2 diabetes mellitus（T2DM）complicated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease（NAFLD）.Methods:Fifty male SD rats were randomly divided into normal group（N=10）and model group（N=40）.Forty T2DM rats with NAFLD were fed with high-fat and high-sugar diet combined with intraperitoneal injection of low-dose streptozotocin（STZ）.Then,10 rats in each group were randomly divided into model group,positive drug group was metformin group(dose of 100 mg·kg^-1·d^-1),high-dose and low-dose Qingfei Xiegan Decoction group(dose was 400 and 200 mg·kg^-1·d^-1,respectively).The body weight and fasting blood glucose（FBG）were recorded every 7 days after28 days of continuous intragastric administration.After the last administration,the rats were sacrificed and abdominal aortic blood and liver tissue were collected.Fasting insulin content（FINS）was measured by ELISA and insulin resistance index（HOMA-IR）was calculated.Alanine aminotransferase（ALT）,aspartate aminotransferase（AST）activities,total cholesterol（TC）,triglyceride（TG）,high density lipoprotein（HDL-C）,low density lipoprotein（LDL-C）levels were determined.HE staining was used to observe the pathological changes of liver tissue.The protein expression levels of P-AMPK,AMPK,P-ACC and ACC were detected by Western Blot.Results:Compared with the normal group,body weight,liver weight index（LI）and HOMA-IR were significantly increased（P<0.01）,ALT,AST,TC,TG and LDL-C contents in model group were increased,while HDL-C was decreased（P<0.05）.HE staining results:there was significant hepatic steatosis in the model group.Western Blot results:The protein expressions of P-AMPK,AMPK and P-ACC in liver cells were decreased,and the ACC protein expression was increased（P<0.05）.Compared with the model group,the body weight,LI and HOMA-IR of metformin group,high-dose and low-dose group was significantly decreased（P<0.01）,and the contents of ALT,AST,TC,TG and LDL-C were decreased,while hd L-C was increased（P<0.05）.HE staining results:The steatosis of liver tissue of the rats treated with QFXGT was alleviated,and the infiltration of inflammatory cells and necrotic foci were reduced.Western blot results:Protein expressions of P-AMPK,AMPK and P-ACC in rat liver cells after QFXGT treatment increased,while ACC protein expression decreased（P<0.05）.Conclusion:QFXGT can effectively enhance insulin sensitivity and reduce insulin resistance in T2DM combined with NAFLD rats,reduce liver lipid deposition,protect and relieve liver injury,and improve lipid metabolism disorders by activating AMPK signaling pathway.