Efficacy and mechanism of intermittent fasting in metabolic associated fatty liver disease based on ultraperformance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

OBJECTIVES: Drug treatment of metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) remains lacking. This study analyzes the efficacy and mechanism underlying intermittent fasting combined with lipidomics. METHODS: Thirty-two male rats were randomly divided into three groups: Normal group, administered a standard diet; MAFLD group, administered a 60% high-fat diet; time-restricted feeding (TRF) group, administered a 60% high-fat diet. Eating was allowed for 6 h per day (16:00–22:00). After 15 weeks, liver lipidomics and other indicators were compared. RESULTS: A total of 1,062 metabolites were detected. Compared with the Normal group, the weight, body fat ratio, aspartate aminotransferase, total cholesterol, low-density cholesterol, fasting blood glucose, uric acid, and levels of 317 lipids including triglycerides (TG) (17:0(−)18:1(−)20:4) were upregulated, whereas the levels of 265 lipids including phosphatidyl ethanolamine (PE) (17:0(−)20:5) were downregulated in the MAFLD group (P < 0.05). Compared with the MAFLD group, the weight, body fat ratio, daily food intake, and levels of 253 lipids including TG (17:0(−)18:1(−)22:5) were lower in the TRF group. Furthermore, the levels of 82 lipids including phosphatidylcholine (PC) (20:4(−)22:6) were upregulated in the TRF group (P < 0.05), while serum TG level was increased; however, the increase was not significant (P > 0.05). Enrichment analysis of differential metabolites showed that the pathways associated with the observed changes mainly included metabolic pathways, regulation of lipolysis in adipocytes, and fat digestion and absorption, while reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction showed that TRF improved the abnormal expression of FAS and PPARα genes in the MAFLD group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that 6 h of TRF can improve MAFLD via reducing food intake by 13% and improving the expression of genes in the PPARα/FAS pathway, thereby providing insights into the prevention and treatment of MAFLD.