PSI-11 - Phyllanthus urinaria water extract ameliorates lipid accumulation and oxidative stress in primary chicken hepatocytes

Abstract: Fatty liver syndrome is a common metabolic disease that causes decrease in egg production and sudden death of laying hens. Phyllanthus urinaria (PU), a traditional herbal medicine, is widely used as anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective medicine in Asia. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of PU water extract on lipid accumulation and oxidative stress in an in vitro fatty liver syndrome model. Primary hepatocytes were isolated from 18 days of Lohmann embryonic chicks. Hepatocytes were cultured in medium with oleic acid (OA, 500 μM) or palmitic acid (PA, 200 μM) to induce lipid accumulation and oxidative stress respectively. Both experiments were reated with different concentration of PU water extract (0, 2, 10, 50 μg/mL) for 24 h. Metformin hydrochloride (1 mM) was used as a positive control. Cell viability, total triglycerides, TBARS, Oil red O staining, and mRNA expression of lipid metabolism-related genes were determined. The results indicated that PU water extract significantly decreased total triglycerides level (P< 0.05) in OA induced lipid accumulation. Moreover, treatment of PU water extract could down-regulate the mRNA level of sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (SREBP1c), up-regulate the mRNA expression of carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A (CPT1A) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα) in lipid accumulated hepatocytes. In oxidative stress experiment, PU water extract at the doses above 10 μg/mL of significantly attenuated increase of malondialdehyde (MDA) level that induced by PA (P< 0.05). We speculated that PU water extract effectively ameliorate lipid accumulation in primary chicken hepatocytes through decreasing of lipogenesis and increasing of beta-oxidation. Since PU water extract reduced lipid peroxidase, showing antioxidant effects. These results provide the preliminary evidences for supporting PU water extract as a potential therapeutic agent to prevent and treat fatty liver syndrome in chickens.