Hepatoprotective effects of Shilajit on high fat-diet induced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in rats

Abstract

BackgroundNon-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the main common cause of chronic liver disease. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of Shilajit, a medicine of Ayurveda, on the liver damage caused by NAFLD.Materials and methodsForty male Wistar rats, after being established as fatty liver models by feeding a high-fat diet (HFD, 12 weeks), were divided randomly into five groups as follows: control (standard diet), vehicle (HFD + distilled water), high-dose Shilajit (HFD + 250 mg/kg Shilajit), low-dose Shilajit (HFD + 150 mg/kg Shilajit) and pioglitazone (HFD + 10 mg/kg pioglitazone). The serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), glucose and liver glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, liver weight, and histopathological manifestation outcomes were measured after the 2-week intervention.ResultsShilajit treatment significantly reduced the values of AST and ALT, TG, TC, LDL, glucose, liver weight, and steatosis, and instead, increased high-density lipoprotein (HDL) compared with the vehicle group (p < 0.05). Further, Shilajit treatment improved the adverse effects of HFD-induced histopathological changes in the liver as compared with the vehicle group (p < 0.001). MDA level and GPx activity increased but SOD activity decreased in the vehicle group compared with the control group (p < 0.05), while treatment with Shilajit restored the antioxidant/oxidant balance toward a significant increase in the antioxidant system in the Shilajit group (p < 0.05).ConclusionsThese findings suggest that Shilajit improved the histopathological NAFLD changes in the liver and indicated the potential applicability of Shilajit as a potent agent for NAFLD treatment.

WITHDRAWN: Effects of Mineral pitch (Asphaltum punjabianum) supplemented diet on rohu (Labeo rohita): growth performance, immunological indices, antioxidant enzymes, and expression levels of immunity and growth- related genes

“…Moreover, Jawahar et al (2016) also reported signi cantly improved hematological indices in response to zeolite-enriched diets in Channa striatus. The improved hematological indices might be due to the presence of iron-containing complex structures of quinone, semi-quinone, and hydroquinone in Mineral pitch(Ghezelbash et al 2020) Phosphatases and transaminase activities determine liver health because they control several metabolic pathways including amino acid synthesis and deamination during variable energy needs under various dietary, physiological, and environmental conditions(Hou et al 2018). The results present study indicated lower serum AST and ALT levels in all experimental groups of sh fed Mineral pitch-supplemented diets indicating.…”

Shilajit potentiates the effect of chemotherapeutic drugs and mitigates metastasis induced liver and kidney damages in osteosarcoma rats

“…For instance, shilajit induced apoptosis and inhibited hepatic cancer cells through modulating oxygen species ( Pant et al, 2016 ). Shilajit was able to impart a protective effect and prevent histopathological damage to liver tissue in high fat-diet induced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in rats ( Ghezelbash et al, 2020 ). Shilajit also favorably altered serum levels of adipocytokines and insulin resistance via modulating inflammation in a NAFLD rat model ( Ghezelbash et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Shilajit is also attributed to a number of beneficial effects against neurological disorders including Alzheimer’s disease ( Bhattarai et al, 2016 , Calfio et al, 2020 , Carrasco-Gallardo et al, 2012a , Carrasco-Gallardo et al, 2012b ). Importantly, shilajit has been shown to prevent liver damage in high-fat diet-induced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and induce apoptosis in hepatic cancer cells k( Ghezelbash et al, 2020 , Pant et al, 2016 ). The prognosis of metastatic OS cases remains off the mark and despite progress in research leading to the discovery of several metastasis-predicting and promoting factors, there is a lack of proven treatment strategy to minimize the OS cases progressing into metastasis except for surgery.…”