Pachymaran alleviates fat accumulation, hepatocyte degeneration, and injury in mice with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

BACKGROUND: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is characterized by excessive hepatic fat accumulation and is closely associated with obesity, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia. OBJECTIVES: This study explores the effects of pachymaran on NAFLD induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) in a murine model. METHODS: Thirty male C57BL/6 mice were allocated into five groups: normal diet (ND), NAFLD, and high-, medium-, and low-dose pachymaran (200, 100, and 50 mg/kg, respectively). All groups except the ND were fed a HFD to induce NAFLD. The pachymaran groups received daily intragastric pachymaran for eight weeks. Post-treatment, liver weight were recorded, serum indices assessed, and hepatic pathology evaluated via histological and Oil Red O staining. Adenylate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) gene expression was analyzed through western blotting. RESULTS: The body weight and liver gain (87.8 and 23.0%) in the high-dose pachymaran group were significantly less than those (154.2 and 82.0%) in the NAFLD group (P < 0.05). Fat content and serum indices improvements correlated with increased pachymaran doses. Histological analyses indicated significant alleviation of hepatocyte hypertrophy and ballooning steatosis in treated groups. Oil Red O staining confirmed a substantial decrease in hepatic lipid droplets, and western blot results indicated a significant increase in AMPK phosphorylation following treatment (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Pachymaran effectively mitigated fat accumulation, hepatocyte degeneration, and injury in mice with diet-induced NAFLD, likely through modulation of the AMPK pathway.