Lipid profiling of the therapeutic effects of berberine in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

BACKGROUND: We recently demonstrated a positive effect of berberine on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients after 16 weeks of treatment by comparing mere lifestyle intervention in type 2 diabetes patients with berberine treatment, which decreased the content of hepatic fat. However, the potential mechanisms of the clinical effects are unclear. We used a lipidomic approach to characterize the state of lipid metabolism as reflected in the circulation of subjects with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) before and after berberine treatment. METHODS: Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry evaluated the various lipid metabolites in serum samples obtained from the participants (41 patients in the berberine group and 39 patients in the mere lifestyle intervention group) before and after treatment. RESULTS: A total of 256 serum lipid molecular species were identified and quantified. Both treatments regulated various types of lipids in metabolic pathways, such as free fatty acids, phosphoglycerides and glycerides, in metabolic pathways, but berberine induced a substantially greater change in serum lipid species compared with mere lifestyle intervention after treatment. Berberine also caused obvious differences on ceramides. Berberine treatment markedly decreased serum levels of ceramide and ceramide-1-phosphate. CONCLUSIONS: Berberine altered circulating ceramides, which may underlie the improvement in fatty liver disease. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00633282, Registered March 3, 2008 ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12967-016-0982-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.