Mulberrin confers protection against hepatic fibrosis by Trim31/Nrf2 signaling

Mulberrin (Mul) is a key component of the traditional Chinese medicine Romulus Mori with various biological functions. However, the effects of Mul on liver fibrosis have not been addressed, and thus were investigated in our present study, as well as the underlying mechanisms. Here, we found that Mul administration significantly ameliorated carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄)-induced liver injury and dysfunction in mice. Furthermore, CCl₄-triggerd collagen deposition and liver fibrosis were remarkably attenuated in mice with Mul supplementation through suppressing transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1)/SMAD2/3 signaling pathway. Additionally, Mul treatments strongly restrained the hepatic inflammation in CCl₄-challenged mice via blocking nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling. Importantly, we found that Mul markedly increased liver TRIM31 expression in CCl₄-treated mice, accompanied with the inactivation of NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome. CCl₄-triggered hepatic oxidative stress was also efficiently mitigated by Mul consumption via improving nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) activation. Our in vitro studies confirmed that Mul reduced the activation of human and mouse primary hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) stimulated by TGF-β1. Consistently, Mul remarkably retarded the inflammatory response and reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation both in human and murine hepatocytes. More importantly, by using hepatocyte-specific TRIM31 knockout mice (TRIM31^Hep-cKO) and mouse primary hepatocytes with Nrf2-knockout (Nrf2^KO), we identified that the anti-fibrotic and hepatic protective effects of Mul were TRIM31/Nrf2 signaling-dependent, relieving HSCs activation and liver fibrosis. Therefore, Mul-ameliorated hepatocyte injury contributed to the suppression of HSCs activation by improving TRIM31/Nrf2 axis, thus providing a novel therapeutic strategy for hepatic fibrosis treatment.