Curcumin may halt the progression of experimental NAFLD by preventing inflammasome-associated genes expression

CECILIA GARCPIA; INZAUGARAT ME; FLORENCIA FERRO; ALEGRE NADIA S.; WALD M; CHERÑAVSKY AC

Mar del Plata

Congreso; LIX Reunión de la Sociedad Agentina de Inmunología; 2014

SAI

Background: Curcumin (Cur) is an antioxidant/antinflammatory polyphenol able to prevent metabolic alterations of experimental nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Activation of NLRP3 inflammasome (Inf) is involved in some models of NAFLD. Aim: to evaluate if high fat diet (HFD) induces the expression of NLRP3-associated genes in correlation with liver injury and biochemical alterations, and if Cur prevents the upregulation of Inf-associated gene expression. Methods: C57BL/6 male mice were fed normal chow (NC) or HFD (10-16 mice/group). After 4 weeks of feeding, Cur (2g/kg diet) was co-administered to half of the NC-fed and HFD-fed mice respectively. After 23 weeks of treatment an intraperitoneal glucose intolerance test was performed and serum nonesterified fatty acids were determined. Liver tissues were processed for histological and gene expression assesment. NLRP3, ASC, caspase-1 (Casp-1), IL-1 and IL-18 mRNA expression was analyzed by Real-Time PCR. Fold-change values were calculated using the 2-ΔΔCt method. Two-ways ANOVA with Bonferroni´s post-test and Spearman correlations were used. Results: Casp-1 expression was increased in HFD-fed mice (vs.NC, p