Melatonin targets ferroptosis through bimodal alteration of redox environment and cellular pathways in NAFLD model

Ferroptosis is a non-conventional cellular death caused by lipid peroxide induced iron deposition. Intracellular lipid accumulation followed by generation of lipid peroxides is an hallmark of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Melatonin (MLT) is an important pineal hormone with tremendous antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Various studies targeted ferroptosis in different diseases using melatonin. However, none of them focused the intrinsic mechanism of MLT’s action to counteract ferroptosis in NAFLD. Hence, the present study investigated the role of MLT in improvement of NAFLD-induced ferroptosis. HepG2 cells were treated with free fatty acids (FFAs) to induce in vitro NAFLD state and C57BL/6 mice were fed with high-fat diet (HFD) followed by MLT administration. The results indicated that MLT administration caused the recovery from both FFA- and HFD-induced ferroptotic state via increasing GSH and SOD level, decreasing lipid reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) level, increasing Nrf2 and HO-1 level to defend cells against an oxidative environment. MLT also altered the expression of two key proteins GPX4 and SLC7A11 back to their normal levels, which would otherwise cause ferroptosis. MLT also protected against histopathological damage of both liver tissue and HepG2 cells as depicted by Oil Red O, HE staining and immunofluorescence microscopy. MLT also had control over pAMPKα as well as PPARγ and PPARα responsible for lipid homeostasis and lipogenesis. In brief, MLT exerted its multifaceted effect in FFA- and HFD-induced NAFLD by retrieving cellular oxidative environment, reducing lipogenesis and lipid peroxidation and modulating Nrf2/HO-1 and GPX4/SLC7A11 axis to combat ferroptosis.