Hepatoprotective and anti-inflammatory effects of a standardized pomegranate ( <i>Punica granatum</i> ) fruit extract in high fat diet-induced obese C57BL/6 mice
Marisa Pfohl, Nicholas A. DaSilva, Emily Marques, Juliana Agudelo, Chang Liu, Michael Goedken, Angela L. Slitt, Navindra P. Seeram, Hang Ma
Abstract
Diets rich in fats are linked to elevated systemic inflammation, which augments the progression of inflammatory-related disorders including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and neurodegenerative diseases. A phenolic-enriched pomegranate fruit extract (PE) was investigated for its hepatoprotective and anti-inflammatory effects in male C57BL/6 mice fed either a high-fat diet or a standard rodent diet with or without 1% of PE for 12 weeks. Mouse livers and hippocampi were evaluated for the expression of genes associated with NAFLD and inflammation by multiplexed gene analysis. PE alleviated diet-induced fatty liver and suppressed hepatic lipid regulating genes including Cd36, Fas, Acot2 and Slc27a1. In addition, PE suppressed gene expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines including Il-1α, Il-7, Il-11, Ifnα, Tnfα and Lepr in the hippocampi. Our findings support the protective effects of PE against high-fat diet-induced hepatic and neurological disease.