Hepatoprotective Effect of Bee Bread in Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD) Rats: Impact on Oxidative Stress and Inflammation

Abstract

Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is a pathological accumulation of hepatic lipid closely linked with many metabolic disorders, oxidative stress and inflammation. We aimed to evaluate the hepatoprotective effect of bee bread on oxidative stress and inflammatory parameters in MAFLD rats. Twenty-eight male Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned into four groups (n = 7/group): normal control (NC), high-fat diet (HFD), bee bread (HFD + Bb, HFD + 0.5 g/kg/day bee bread) and orlistat (HFD + Or, HFD + 10 mg/kg/day orlistat) groups. After 12 weeks, the HFD group demonstrated significantly higher body weight gain, serum levels of lipids (TG, TC, LDL), liver enzymes (AST, ALT, ALP) and adiponectin, liver lipids (TG, TC) and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Furthermore, the HFD group showed significantly decreased antioxidant enzyme activities (GPx, GST, GR, SOD, CAT) and GSH level, and increased liver oxidative stress (TBARS, NO), translocation of Nrf2 to the nucleus, Keap1 expression and inflammation (TNF-α, NF-κβ, MCP-1) together with histopathological alterations (steatosis, hepatocyte hypertrophy, inflammatory cell infiltration, collagen deposition), which indicated the presence of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and fibrosis. Bee bread significantly attenuated all these changes exerted by HFD feeding. In conclusion, our results suggest that bee bread might have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-steatotic and anti-fibrotic effects that are beneficial in protecting liver progression towards NASH and fibrosis.

Therapeutic Effects of Heterotrigona itama (Stingless Bee) Bee Bread in Improving Hepatic Lipid Metabolism through the Activation of the Keap1/Nrf2 Signaling Pathway in an Obese Rat Model

“…The present study demonstrated significant increases in the Lee obesity index and body weight gain in the obese group than those in the control group, which are consistent with our previously published reports [ 40 , 78 ]. Furthermore, excess energy or calorie intake following consumption of HFD led to an increased accumulation of lipids in the adipocytes, hence resulting in an increased Lee obesity index and body weight gain in this group, as reported by previous studies [ 33 , 37 ].…”

“…H. itama bee bread was able to reduce these parameters significantly although no changes in food and calorie intakes were observed in this group, compared to the obese group. These results demonstrated the anti-obesity effect of H. itama bee bread in which it increased weight loss without reducing the food intake; hence, these results were in line with previous published studies [ 33 , 37 , 40 ].…”

“…We had previously reported excessive intake of HFD results in elevated liver fat contents, oxidative damage and abnormal inflammatory responses in obese rat models fed with HFD for 12 weeks. Subsequently, the supplementation of H. itama bee bread, concurrently given with the HFD for the same period exerted its hepatoprotective effect against the above parameters [ 40 ]. In addition, the latest study by Li et al 2021 [ 41 ] also demonstrated the anti-lipogenic effect of bee bread against FAS and ACC levels in the HFD-induced fatty liver disease rat model.…”

“…Numerous data have shown that bee bread produced by H. itama possesses beneficial therapeutic effects on metabolic diseases including cardiovascular disease [ 33 , 34 , 35 ], renal disorder [ 36 ] and male infertility [ 37 , 38 , 39 ]. Moreover, our prior study revealed that concurrent administration of HFD and H. itama bee bread at 0.5 g/kg b.w./day for 12 weeks exhibited protection against obesity, liver oxidative damage and inflammation, as well as prevented the liver from NASH and fibrosis in rats [ 40 ]. Bee bread was also previously demonstrated to have an anti-lipogenic effect by reducing the expressions of FAS and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) in the obesity-induced fatty liver disease rat model [ 41 ].…”

Unripe banana flour ( Musa cavendishii ) promotes increased hypothalamic antioxidant activity, reduced caloric intake, and abdominal fat accumulation in rats on a high‐fat diet

“…These high antioxidant values come mainly from the banana peel, which, in its unripe stage, contains a large amount of phenolics and flavonoids (Borges et al, 2020; Savlak et al, 2016). Phenolics and flavonoids are secondary plant‐based food metabolites, which are a class of natural antioxidants mostly found in foods and have lipid‐lowering and anti‐obesity effects (Zakaria et al, 2021). Here, the flour used was made from the skin and pulp in its unripe stage, which conferred a high antioxidant capacity.…”