Eicosapentaenoic acid ameliorates non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in a novel mouse model using melanocortin 4 receptor-deficient mice.

ABSTRACT: Many attempts have been made to find novel therapeutic strategies for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), while their clinical efficacy is unclear. We have recently reported a novel rodent model of NASH using melanocortin 4 receptor-deficient (MC4R-KO) mice, which exhibit the sequence of events that comprise hepatic steatosis, liver fibrosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma with obesity-related phenotypes. In the liver of MC4R-KO mice, there is a unique histological feature termed hepatic crown-like structures (hCLS), where macrophages interact with dead hepatocytes and fibrogenic cells, thereby accelerating inflammation and fibrosis. In this study, we employed MC4R-KO mice to examine the effect of highly purified eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), a clinically available n-3 polyunsaturated fatty

SUBMITTER: Konuma K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4376873 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature