title: Water Soluble Vitamin E Administration in Wistar Rats with Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A diet rich in fat is associated with hepatic fat deposition [steatosis; non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)]. The exact cause of NAFLD however, is still unknown. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of a water-soluble formulation of vitamin E on a dietary-induced-NAFLD animal model.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adult male Wistar rats (n=20) were allocated to 2 groups: Controls (Group A, n=6), which received a standard chow diet for 24 weeks and a High Cholesterol group (HC: n=14), which received a standard chow diet enriched with cholesterol for the first 14 weeks of the experiment (t(1)). At t(1), the HC group was divided into: Group HC(B), which received a high-saturated-fat/high-cholesterol (HSF/HCH) diet and Group HC(C), which followed the same HSF/HCH diet but was also administered water soluble vitamin E (10 IU/kg body weight/day), for 10 more weeks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At the end of the study, group HC(C) exhibited significantly lower mean total cholesterol (T-CHOL) than group HC(B) (p<0.001). No significant differences were observed between HC(C) and Control groups in blood glucose and serum lipid concentrations. Liver Function Tests did not vary between all groups at the end of the study. Animals in group HC(B) exhibited higher SGOT at the end of the study compared with the beginning of the study (p<0.05). Group HC(B) exhibited the highest scores in steatosis, and grading (according to the NAFLD scoring system) in the histopathological analysis (p≤0.001 in all cases).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Vitamin E seems to exert a hypolipidemic and hepatoprotective role in the presence of a HSF/HCH atherogenic diet in a rat model.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Experimental Surgery and Surgical Research "N. S. Christeas", University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Irene P
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: Tzanetakou
authors.forename: Ilias P
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: Doulamis
authors.forename: Laskarina-Maria
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Korou
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Agrogiannis
authors.forename: Ioannis S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Vlachos
authors.forename: Alkisti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pantopoulou
authors.forename: Dimitri P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Mikhailidis
authors.forename: Efstratios
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Patsouris
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vlachos
authors.forename: Despina N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Perrea