Glycine alleviates liver injury induced by deficiency in methionine and or choline in rats.
OBJECTIVE
Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is an advanced stage of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) from steatosis. Methionine and choline are important amino acids play a key role in many cellular functions. Glycine is a non-essential amino acid having multiple roles in many reactions. This study aimed to investigate liver damage induced by feeding male albino rats either methionine deficient (MD), choline deficient (CD), or MCD diets. And to clarify the alleviatory effect of dietary glycine supplementation (5%) on reduced complications caused by feeding each of the deficient diets.


METHODS
Nutritional status, liver functions, lipids profile, hepatic oxidative stress, hepatic antioxidant enzymes, tumor markers and hepatic fatty acid transport protein gene were assessed.


RESULTS
Rats fed with either MD or MCD diet had less body weight gain unlike rats fed the CD diet. Liver injury was detected in deficient groups by elevating plasma ALT, AST, ALP, total and direct bilirubin, albumin and protein levels. Lipid accumulation was more prominent in rats fed the MCD or CD diet than in those fed the MD diet. Fatty acid transport protein (FATP) was significantly elevated in the different glycine supplemented groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Oral administration of glycine confers a significant protective effect by optimizing all the assessed parameters and gene expression.
Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Women's College Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. dr_hebabarakat@yahoo.com
H A
HA
Barakat
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AH
Hamza
D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000494:pharmacology; D002796:Choline Deficiency / Q000150:complications*; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000378:metabolism / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005998:Glycine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation; D008297:Male; D008715:Methionine / Q000172:deficiency*; D065626:Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
D000975:Antioxidants; D008715:Methionine; D005998:Glycine