Preliminary study on ameliorative effects of P-Hydroxycinnamic acid on high-fat diet-induced injury in zebrafish

P-Hydroxycinnamic acid (PCA), a natural phenolic compound, exhibits multifaceted biological activities, including antioxidant and metabolic regulatory properties in mammals, whereas its role in fish is rarely reported. To investigate whether PCA can alleviate the negative effects caused by high-fat diets on fish liver health and disease resistance, here we used zebrafish as experimental animals. In this study, six zebrafish diets, including basal diet, high-fat diet (HFD), and HFD supplemented with PCA at 500, 1000, 1500, or 2500 mg/kg and assigned as CK, HFD, PCA0.5, PCA1, PCA1.5, and PCA2.5, respectively. Following a 6-week feeding trial on zebrafish, PCA supplementation significantly attenuated hepatic triglyceride (TAG) accumulation without compromising growth performance. With increasing the level of PCA, the expression of inflammatory factors showed an upregulating trend. Serum biomarkers of liver injury (ALT, AST) were markedly reduced in PCA-treated groups, concomitant with enhanced hepatic antioxidant capacity (CAT, GR) and upregulated the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines (tgf-β). Notably, PCA administration improved survival rates following a dual challenge with Aeromonas veronii HM091 and Aeromonas hydrophila NJ-1. These findings demonstrate that PCA0.5 supplementation effectively mitigates HFD-induced oxidative stress and hepatic steatosis while enhancing innate immunity in zebrafish.