Abstract
It has been reported that α-tocopherol (α-Toc), one of the vitamin E analogs, is effective for treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). However, the mechanisms and the effects of other vitamin E analogs have not been clarified. The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of α-Toc and γ-tocopherol (γ-Toc) on fatty liver by using a model of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) induced by a methionine- and choline-deficient (MCD) diet. Thirty male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were divided into six groups: control (C), control+α-Toc (Cα), control+γ-Toc (Cγ), MCD(M), MCD+α-Toc (Mα), and MCD+γ-Toc (Mγ). Each diet was fed for four weeks. Although neither α-Toc nor γ-Toc affected hepatic lipids under the control diet, γ-Toc tended to reduce hepatic triacylglycerol content and lipid droplet in rats fed the MCD diet. γ-Toc also significantly increased the expression of apolipoproteinB (ApoB) mRNA, which had been suppressed by the MCD diet. Moreover, it was suggested that γ-Toc levels in the liver and plasma of the Mγ group were significantly lower than those in the Cγ group, while there were no significant differences in the liver and plasma α-Toc levels between the Cα and Mα groups. Our results suggest that γ-Toc could ameliorate hepatic steatosis induced by feeding of a MCD diet more effectively than α-Toc.
