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Updated: May 26, 2026
Analysis of Liver Microenvironment During Early Progression of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease-Associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Zebrafish
Published on: April 1, 2021
Transcriptome analysis of anti-fatty liver action by Campari tomato using a zebrafish diet-induced obesity model
Toshiyuki Tainaka1,2, Yasuhito Shimada1,3,4,5, Junya Kuroyanagi1
1Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Pharmacogenomics and Pharmacoinformatics, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Mie, Japan.
Background:
High dietary intake of vegetable products is beneficial against obesity and its related diseases such as dyslipidemia, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and cancer. We previously developed a diet-induced obesity model of zebrafish (DIO-zebrafish) that develops visceral adiposity, dyslipidemia, and liver steatosis. Zebrafish is a polyphagous animal; thus we hypothesized that DIO-zebrafish could be used for transcriptome analysis of anti-obesity effects of vegetables.
Results:
Each vegetable exhibited different effects against obesity. We focused on "Campari" tomato, which suppressed increase of body weight, plasma TG, and lipid droplets in livers of DIO-zebrafish. Campari tomato decreased srebf1 mRNA by increase of foxo1 gene expression, which may depend on high contents of β-carotene in this strain.
Conclusions:
Campari tomato ameliorates diet-induced obesity, especially dyslipidemia and liver steatosis via downregulation of gene expression related to lipogenesis. DIO-zebrafish can discriminate the anti-obesity effects of different strains of vegetables, and will become a powerful tool to assess outcomes and find novel mechanisms of anti-obesity effects of natural products.
