Choline and Vitamin E Combination Alleviates Biochemical, Molecular and Histopathological Effects of Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Rats

A sedentary lifestyle with a poor diet is associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) occurrence. An increase in the NAFLD prevalence is associated with an increase in obesity in the world. Choline as a lipotropic factor and vitamin E as an antioxidant would possess beneficial effects in NAFLD treatment. This study aimed to investigate the synergistic effect of choline and vitamin E on lipid profile, liver function enzymes, antioxidant status and hepatic lipid metabolism-related genes. Albino rats (n=50) were randomly divided into 5 groups. G1: Control group (n= 10), G2: Rats were induced by NAFLD (n=10), G3: Rats were induced by NAFLD and received low dose of choline (25 mg/kg BW orally) and vitamin E (50 mg/kg BW orally), G4: Rats were induced by NAFLD and received medium dose of choline (50 mg/kg BW orally) and vitamin E (100 mg/kg BW orally), G5: Rats were induced by NAFLD and received high dose of choline (100 mg/kg BW orally) and vitamin E (200 mg/kg BW orally). The results demonstrated that treatment of rats with different doses of choline and vitamin E significantly decreased AST, ALT, ALP, GGT, TC, TG, LDL, VLDL, plasma glucose, hepatic lipid peroxidation (MDA), hepatic mRNA expression of inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β and TNFα) and mRNA expression of hepatic SREBP-1c in compared to NAFLD group. Moreover, significant increase of total protein and albumin, HDL, insulin, antioxidant enzymes (SOD and catalase), mRNA expression of fatty acid oxidation genes (PPAR-α and CPT-1), mRNA expression of hepatic PEMT was detected in treated groups in compared to NAFLD group. In conclusion, choline and vitamin E combination alleviates the biochemical, molecular and histopathological effects of NAFLD in rats with a potential effect to the highest dose of this combination.