The Effect of the Saffron Intervention on NAFLD Status and Related Gene Expression in a Rat Model

• Published in: Medical journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran Vol. 37; p. 28
• Main Authors: Alipour, Roya, Aryaeian, Naheed, Hajiluian, Ghazaleh, Soleimani, Mansoure, Barati, Mahmood
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Iran Iran University of Medical Sciences 2023
• Subjects: Original; Liver Enzymes; Gene Expression; Insulin Resistance; Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; Inflammation; Saffron; Blood Lipids; Liver Histopathology
• ISSN: 1016-1430; 2251-6840
• DOI: 10.47176/mjiri.37.28

According to the worldwide increasing prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the present study aimed to investigate the mechanism effects of saffron consumption on preventing NAFLD in a rat model. In an experimental study, 12 rats were randomly divided into 2 groups to be evaluated in the prevention phase for 7 weeks. In the prevention phase, the animals were randomly assigned to either fed HFHS + 250 mg/kg saffron (S) or fed with HFHS. Afterward, parts of the liver were excised for histopathologic examination. Plasma concentrations of ALT, AST, GGT, ALP, serum lipids, insulin concentrations, plasma glucose, hs-CRP, and TAC were measured. Moreover, Also, the gene expression of 6 target genes was evaluated, including FAS, ACC1, CPT1 PPARα DGAT2, and SREBP 1-c at the beginning and end of the study. Also, the differences among groups were evaluated by the Mann-Whitney test for non-normal data and the independent t test for normal data. The prevention phase groups have a significant elevation in body weight ( = 0.034) and food intake ( = 0.001) of the HFHS group versus HFHS + 250 mg/kg S group. Also, there was a significant difference between groups 1 and 2 for ALT (P = 0.011) and AST ( = 0.010), and TG ( = 0.040). The HFHS group had higher plasma levels of FBS ( = 0.001), insulin ( = 0.035), HOMA-IR ( = 0.032), and lower TAC ( = 0.041) versus the HFHS+ S group. Also, the difference between HFHS + 250 mg/kg S and HFHS for PPARα gene expression was significant ( = 0.030). The present study showed that consumption of saffron could prevent developing NAFLD in rats at least partially through modulation in gene expression of PPARα.