Jiming Ye

Bouchardatine analogue alleviates non‐alcoholic hepatic fatty liver disease/non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis in high‐fat fed mice by inhibiting ATP synthase activity

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 04-07-2019

DOI: 10.1111/BPH.14713

Involvement of the Autophagy-ER Stress Axis in High Fat/Carbohydrate Diet-Induced Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Publisher: MDPI AG

Date: 28-08-2020

DOI: 10.3390/NU12092626

Abstract: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease that can progress from simple hepatic steatosis to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and even further to liver cirrhosis or liver cancer. Overconsumption of high fat and/or carbohydrate are among the most common lifestyle factors that drive the development and progression of NAFLD. This review evaluates recent reports on the involvement of autophagy and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in the pathogenesis of NAFLD. Here, we reveal a mechanism of an intrinsically linked axis of impaired autophagy and unresolved ER stress that mediates the development and progression of NAFLD resulting from the overconsumption of high fat and/or carbohydrate.

Cigarette smoking blocks the benefit from reduced weight gain for insulin action by shifting lipids deposition to muscle

Publisher: Portland Press Ltd.

Date: 07-2020

DOI: 10.1042/CS20200173

Abstract: Cigarette smoking (CS) is known to reduce body weight and this often masks its real effect on insulin action. The present study tested the hypothesis that CS can ert lipid deposition to muscles to offset the supposed benefit of reduced body weight gain on insulin signalling in this major site for glucose tolerance (or insulin action). The study was conducted in mice exposed to chronic CS followed by either a chow (CH) diet or a high-fat (HF) diet. CS increased triglyceride (TG) levels in both plasma and muscle despite a reduced body weight gain and adiposity. CS led to glucose intolerance in CH-fed mice and they retained the glucose intolerance that was induced by the HF diet. In adipose tissue, CS increased macrophage infiltration and the mRNA expression of TNFα but suppressed the protein expression of adipose triglyceride lipase and PPARγ. While CS increased hormone-sensitive lipase and suppressed the mRNA expression of leptin, these effects were blunted in HF-fed mice. These results imply that CS impairs insulin signalling in skeletal muscle via accumulated intramuscular lipids from lipolysis and lipodystrophy of adipose tissues. This may explain why smokers may not benefit from insulin sensitising effects of reduced body weight gain.

Chronic activation of PPARα with fenofibrate reduces autophagic proteins in the liver of mice independent of FGF21

Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)

Date: 19-04-2017

DOI: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0173676

Matrine reduces cigarette smoke-induced airway neutrophilic inflammation by enhancing neutrophil apoptosis.

Publisher: Portland Press Ltd.

Date: 02-2019

DOI: 10.1042/CS20180912

Abstract: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a major incurable global health burden and will become the third largest cause of death in the world by 2030. It is well established that an exaggerated inflammatory and oxidative stress response to cigarette smoke (CS) leads to, emphysema, small airway fibrosis, mucus hypersecretion, and progressive airflow limitation. Current treatments have limited efficacy in inhibiting chronic inflammation and consequently do not reverse the pathology that initiates and drives the long-term progression of disease. In particular, there are no effective therapeutics that target neutrophilic inflammation in COPD, which is known to cause tissue damage by degranulation of a suite of proteolytic enzymes including neutrophil elastase (NE). Matrine, an alkaloid compound extracted from Sophora flavescens Ait, has well known anti-inflammatory activity. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate whether matrine could inhibit CS-induced lung inflammation in mice. Matrine significantly reduced CS-induced bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) neutrophilia and NE activity in mice. The reduction in BALF neutrophils in CS-exposed mice by matrine was not due to reductions in pro-neutrophil cytokines/chemokines, but rather matrine’s ability to cause apoptosis of neutrophils, which we demonstrated ex vivo. Thus, our data suggest that matrine has anti-inflammatory actions that could be of therapeutic potential in treating CS-induced lung inflammation observed in COPD.

Preconditioning lessens high fat induced metabolic syndrome along with markers of increased metabolic capacity in muscle and adipose tissue

Publisher: Portland Press Ltd.

Date: 14-12-2018

DOI: 10.1042/BSR20181873

Abstract: Postnatal overconsumption of fat is believed to increase the susceptibility to metabolic disease in the later life. Here we examined whether prior exposure to high fat (HF) in the adulthood may also accelerate the development of metabolic disorders in mice. Adult mice (12 weeks) were pre-exposed to two episodes of an HF diet each for 2 weeks followed by 2 weeks of washout with a low-fat diet. The mice were then fed the same HF diet for 6 weeks. Unexpectedly, prior exposures to HF diet significantly alleviated body weight gain, visceral adiposity and glucose/insulin intolerance during the period of last HF feeding. These protective effects were evident without changing calorie intake and were specific for HF, but not high fructose (HFru) diet. Following the HF prior exposures was increases in plasma fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), the expressions of phospho-AMP-activated protein kinase (pAMPK), mitochondrial complex II and the expression of uncoupling protein (UCP) 3 in muscle and UCP1 and Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) in adipose tissue. However, in the liver there was no significant change in pAMPK, SIRT1 expression or the capacity of glucose production. These findings indicated that, instead of exacerbating metabolic conditions, prior exposures to HF diet lead to the preconditioning against subsequent overload of HF, possibly involving FGF21-associated enhancement of markers for metabolic capacity in muscle and adipose tissue. This paradoxical phenomenon may offer a unique paradigm to identify factors and explore dietary ingredients with beneficial effects for the control of the metabolic syndrome in humans.

Gut Akkermansia muciniphila ameliorates metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease by regulating the metabolism of L-aspartate via gut-liver axis

Publisher: Informa UK Limited

Date: 2021

DOI: 10.1080/19490976.2021.1927633

Exposure to cigarette smoke precipitates simple hepatosteatosis to NASH in high-fat diet fed mice by inducing oxidative stress

Publisher: Portland Press Ltd.

Date: 09-2021

DOI: 10.1042/CS20210628

Abstract: Consumption of diet rich in fat and cigarette smoking (CS) are independent risk factors of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and they often occur together in some populations. The present study investigated the mechanisms of high-fat diet (HFD) and CS, in idually and in combination, on the pathogenesis of NASH in mice. C57BL/6 male mice were subjected to either a low-fat chow (CH) or HFD with or without mainstream CS-exposure (4 cigarettes/day, 5 days/ week for 14 weeks). HFD alone caused hepatosteatosis (2.5-fold increase in TG content) and a significant increase in 3-nitrotyrisine (by ∼40-fold) but without an indication of liver injury, inflammation or fibrosis. CS alone in CH-fed mice increased in Tnfα expression and macrophage infiltration by 2-fold and relatively less increase in 3-nitrotyrosine (18-fold). Combination of HFD and CS precipitated hepatosteatosis to NASH reflected by exacerbated makers of liver inflammation and fibrosis which were associated with much severe liver oxidative stress (90-fold increase in 3-nitrotyrisine along with 6-fold increase in carbonylated proteins and 56% increase in lipid oxidations). Further studies were performed to administer the antioxidant tempol to CS exposed HFD mice and the results showed that the inhibition of liver oxidative stress prevented inflammatory and fibrotic changes in liver despite persisting hepatosteatosis. Our findings suggest that oxidative stress is a key mechanism underlying CS-promoted progression of simple hepatosteatosis to NASH. Targeting hepatic oxidative stress may be a viable strategy in halting the progression of metabolic associated fatty liver disease.

Kunming Medical University

Location: China

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University Of Tasmania

Location: Australia

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Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP110102396

Start Date: 2011

End Date: 03-2015

Amount: $310,000.00

Funder: Australian Research Council