Treatment of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease with Total Alkaloids in Rubus aleaefolius Poir through Regulation of Fat Metabolism

Total alkaloids in Rubus aleaefolius Poir (TARAP) is a folk medicinal herb that has been used clinically in China to treat nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) for many years. However, the mechanism of its anti-NAFLD effect is largely unknown. In this study, we developed a NAFLD rat model by supplying a modified high-fat diet (mHFD) ad libitum for 8 weeks and evaluated the therapeutic effect of TARAP in NAFLD rats as well as the underlying molecular mechanism. We found that TARAP could reduce the serum triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C) levels and increase the serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL-C) level in NAFLD rats. In addition, TARAP treatment reduced expression of fatty acid synthetase (FAS), and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) and upregulated the expression of carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT). Our results suggest that regulation of lipid metabolism may be a mechanism by which TARAP treats NAFLD.