Abstract
We examined the preventive effects of sesame lignans on alcohol-induced fatty liver in rats by using sesaminol and sesamin. Five groups of rats were fed with four different diets for 8 weeks. Group 1 was given the control diet, group 2 was pair-fed on the control diet with an alcohol diet group (group 3), group 3 was fed on a 23% alcohol-containing diet, group 4 was fed on this alcohol diet with 0.2% sesaminol, and group 5 was fed the alcohol diet with 0.2% sesamin. The food intake and body weight gain were both suppressed in the alcohol diet-fed group (group 3). The addition of sesamin to the alcohol diet increased the food intake and body weight gain, but the addition of sesaminol did not. Furthermore the alcohol diet increased the weight, total lipids, cholesterol and lipid peroxides in the liver, as well as the GOT and GPT activities in the plasma. These effects were inhibited by sesamin, but not by sesaminol, except for its effect of lowering lipid peroxides. α-Tocopherol concentration in the liver was increased in the sesame lignan-fed groups, especially by sesaminol. These results suggest that sesamin acted against alcohol toxicity, and that the mechanism for detoxification may differ from that for the enhancing effect of α-tocopherol in sesaminol and sesamin.
