Study on the mechanism of Shenling Baizhu powder on the pathogenesis of pregnancy complicated with non-alcoholic fatty liver, based on PI3K/AKT/mTOR signal pathway

This study investigates the effectiveness of Shenlin Baizhu powder in managing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) during pregnancy and its mechanism through the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. Eight healthy male and 24 female Sprague-Dawley rats were used. After acclimatization, 6 female rats were fed normal chow, and 18 female rats were fed high-fat chow to induce NAFLD. After 8 weeks, female rats were mated with males to create a pregnant NAFLD model. The rats were divided into four groups: normal feeding, high-fat diet with saline, high-fat diet with 1.6 g/kg Shenlin Baizhu powder, and high-fat diet with 4.8 g/kg Shenlin Baizhu powder. Maternal body weight, serum and liver levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), related inflammatory indexes interleukin-1 β (IL-1 β), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were measured. Liver tissue was examined using hematoxylin and oil red O staining, and protein expression related to the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway was assessed via Western blotting, immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR. Results showed significant weight gain and increases in ALT, AST, TG, TC, LDL-C, IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6, along with decreased HDL-C in NAFLD rats compared to controls. The high and low-dose Shenlin Baizhu powder groups exhibited improvements in body weight, liver histopathology, and reductions in serum TG, TC, LDL-C, ALT, AST, IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6, with increased HDL-C levels. Notably, the high-dose group showed greater efficacy in reducing hepatic fat accumulation, liver function markers, blood lipids, and inflammatory indexes, and decreased expression of hepatic PPARγ mRNA, SREBP1 mRNA, AKT mRNA, and related proteins. Shenlin Baizhu powder demonstrates potential in ameliorating high-fat diet-induced NAFLD in pregnant rats, likely through modulation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, suggesting its therapeutic potential for gestational NAFLD.