Effects of combination of krill oil with curcumin and/or silymarin on mouse non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Abstract

No effective pharmacological therapy is available for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The use of natural products is an alternative therapeutic. The natural antioxidants such as curcumin and silymarin are used in clinical trials against non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which are hampered by their membrane permeability and consequent low absorption. The amphipathic phospholipid is beneficial to their absorption and antarctic krill oil contains rich phospholipids. We demonstrated that the mixture (antarctic krill oil, curcumin and silymarin) exhibited remarkable roles in inhibiting high-fat diet-induced mouse non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The effect of the mixture on high-fat diet-induced mouse non-alcoholic fatty liver disease were associated with their regulating the transcriptions of genes related to triglyceride synthesis and fatty acid metabolism, inflammation-related factors, and with the endogenous antioxidant capacity, which might suggest a new choice for inhibiting human non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.