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Updated: May 28, 2026

Optimized Analysis of In Vivo and In Vitro Hepatic Steatosis
Published on: March 11, 2017
Upregulation of Nrf2 expression in non-alcoholic fatty liver and steatohepatitis
Weihua Xu1, Luolin Shao, Chengjun Zhou
1Department of Gastroenterology, Shandong University, Shandong, China.
Background/Aims:
The purpose of this study was to examine the expression of Nrf2 in the non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) and steatohepatitis (NASH) in mice.
Methodology:
Mice were fed a high-fat diet for 8 or 12 weeks before the serum levels of 8-iso-prostaglandin F2α (F2-isoPG) were measured by ELISA; Liver Nrf2 expression was detected by immunohistochemistry.
Results:
Liver index, serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), cholesterol (CHOL) and glucose (GLU) increased significantly (p<0.01) in the high fat diet group. The level of F2-isoPG was also statistically higher in the high fat diet group at both 8 and 12 weeks (p<0.05). Nrf2 expression showed robust upregulation in both the NAFL and NASH groups as compared to the control group (p<0.05). There was a statistically significant (p<0.05) difference in the overexpression of Nrf2 in the NASH group as compared to the NAFL group. Pearson correlation analysis showed a strong correlation between Nrf2 expression and the degree of hepatic steatosis and inflammation.
Conclusions:
Our results showed that during the development of NAFL and NASH, F2-isoPG levels increased and Nrf2 expression was upregulated. Our findings suggest Nrf2 may play a key role during liver steatosis, and activation of Nrf2 may protect liver from inflammation damage induced by oxidative stress.
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