Naringin attenuates alcoholic liver injury by reducing lipid accumulation and oxidative stress

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a leading health risk worldwide, which can induce hepatic steatosis, progressive fibrosis, cirrhosis and even carcinoma. As a potential therapeutic drug for ALD, naringin, an abundant flavanone in grapefruit, could improve resistance to oxidative stress and inflammation and protects against multiple organ injury. However, the specific mechanisms responsible for protection against alcoholic injury remain not fully understood. In this study, we aim to investigate the effect and the regulatory mechanisms of naringin in the liver and whole body after alcohol exposure under zebrafish larvae system.

At 96 h post fertilization (hpf), larvae from wild-type (WT) and transgenic zebrafish, with liver-specific eGFP expression (Tg(lfabp10α:eGFP)), were exposed to 2% ethanol for 32 h to establish an ALD model. Different endpoints, such as morphological changes in liver shape and size, histological changes, oxidative stress-related free radical levels, apoptosis and the expression of certain genes, were chosen to verify the essential impact of naringin in alcohol-induced liver lesions.

Subsequent experiments, including Oil red O, Nile red, pathological hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), and TUNEL staining and qPCR, revealed that naringin treatment reduced alcoholic hepatic steatosis, and this inhibitory effect was dose dependent. Specifically, a 25 mg/L dose resulted in an almost normal response.

This finding suggested that naringin may inhibit alcoholic-induced liver steatosis and injury by attenuating lipid accumulation and reducing oxidative stress and apoptosis.