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. 2022 Oct 21;11(2):765-777.
doi: 10.1002/fsn3.3112. eCollection 2023 Feb.

Low-molecular weight oligosaccharides from gum tragacanth (Astragalus gossypinus) ameliorate nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in Wistar male rats

Zahra Hossein Zadeh  1 , Ebrahim H Najdegerami  1 , Mehdi Niko  2 , Vahid Nejati  1 , Hassan Ahmadi Gavlighi  3
Affiliations

Low-molecular weight oligosaccharides from gum tragacanth (Astragalus gossypinus) ameliorate nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in Wistar male rats

Zahra Hossein Zadeh et al. Food Sci Nutr. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease affecting 25% of the world's population. The effects of oligosaccharides from Gum tragacanth (Astragalus gossypinus) (GT) on oxidative stress, glucose metabolism, and expression of autophagy genes were investigated in induced non-alcoholic fatty liver. Twenty-four male healthy rats were divided into four groups, Control; high-fat diet, high-fat diet + 100 mg GT oligosaccharides/kg body weight, high-fat diet + 200 mg GT oligosaccharides/kg body weight and fed with the trial diets for 70 days. At the end of the experiment, the results indicated that GT oligosaccharides affected the weight gain and liver weight in NAFLD-induced rats. In addition, the results showed that the use of GT oligosaccharides significantly decreased oxidative stress, liver injury, and hyperglycemia (p < .05) and upregulated the expression of autophagy genes in NAFLD-induced rats.

Practical applications: Overall, the results of the current study demonstrated that the use of GT oligosaccharides obtained from Gum tragacanth (Astragalus gossypinus) showed significant antioxidant properties and hypoglycemia in NAFLD induced rats and could be used as a useful nutritional strategy for the prevention and treatment of NAFLD.

Keywords: autophagy; fatty liver; glycemia; gum tragacanth; oligosaccharides; oxidative stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

There is no conflict of interest in this paper.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Molecular size profiles of un‐hydrolyzed Tragacanth gum (Astragalus gossypinus) sample (Tra control) and hydrolysate (HAG3) obtained after enzymatic modification with the Pectinex enzyme. Pharmacia dextran (T10, T40, and T110 kDa) and pullulan (1.3 and 400 kDa) (symbol arrows) were used as molecular weight standards to determine the average molecular weight. The HAG3 fraction, which belongs to the high molecular weight fraction, has an average size of around 110 kDa. Accordingly, the HAG3 fraction contains branched polysaccharides with degrees of polymerization (DP) of around 600–650 monosaccharides.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Fasting glucose, insulin, glucose tolerance, and HOMA‐IR values in the rats fed on HFD and TG oligosaccharides after 70 days experiment period. Data are presented as the mean ± SD (n = 6 per treatments). Results were statistically analyzed using one‐way ANOVA followed by Duncan's multiple‐comparison test, and values with different labels (a–c) are significantly different (p < .05). Control: Standard diet, HFD, High‐fat diet; HFD + O100, High‐fat diet + 100 mg/kg TG oligosaccharides per body weight of rat; HFD + O200, High‐fat diet + 200 mg/kg of TG oligosaccharides per body weight of rat.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Effects of TG oligosaccharides on liver function markers and amylase, alkaline phosphatase activity in plasma of NAFLD induced rats. Data are presented as the mean ± SD (n = 6 per treatments). Results were statistically analyzed using one‐way ANOVA followed by Duncan's multiple‐comparison test, and values with different labels (a–c) are significantly different (p < .05). Control, Standard diet; HFD, High‐fat diet; HFD + O100, High‐fat diet + 100 mg/kg TG oligosaccharides per body weight of rat; HFD + O200, High‐fat diet + 200 mg/kg of TG oligosaccharides per body weight of rat.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Effects of TG oligosaccharides on pro‐inflammatory factors in plasma of NAFLD induced rats. Data are presented as the mean ± SD (n = 6 per treatments). Results were statistically analyzed using one‐way ANOVA followed by Duncan's multiple‐comparison test, and values with different labels (a–c) are significantly different (p < .05). Control, Standard diet; HFD, High‐fat diet; HFD + O100, High‐fat diet + 100 mg/kg TG oligosaccharides per body weight of rat; HFD + O200, High‐fat diet + 200 mg/kg of TG oligosaccharides per body weight of rat.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Effects of oral administration of TG oligosaccharides on the content of total antioxidant activity (TAC), GSH, SOD activity, and MDA concentration in liver tissue of the rats fed on experimental treatments. Data are presented as the mean ± SD (n = 6 per treatments). Results were statistically analyzed using one‐way ANOVA followed by Duncan's multiple‐comparison test, and values with different labels (a–c) are significantly different (p < .05). Control, Standard diet; HFD, High‐fat diet; HFD + O100, High‐fat diet + 100 mg/kg TG oligosaccharides per body weight of rat; HFD + O200, High‐fat diet + 200 mg/kg of TG oligosaccharides per body weight of rat.
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
Expression of autophagy genes (Beclin 1, Atg7, LC3‐ɪ, and P62) in the liver of the induced NAFLD rats. Data are presented as the mean ± SD (n = 6 per treatments). Results were statistically analyzed using one‐way ANOVA followed by Duncan's multiple‐comparison test, and values with different labels (a–c) are significantly different (p < .05). Control, Standard diet; HFD, High‐fat diet, HFD + O100, High‐fat diet + 100 mg/kg TG oligosaccharides per body weight of rat; HFD + O200, High‐fat diet + 200 mg/kg of TG oligosaccharides per body weight of rat.
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 7
Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining of liver tissue sections from control (A1, A2), HFD (B1, B2), HFD + O100 (C1, C2), HFD + O200 (D1, D2) (×400). F, Cell fibrosis; INF, Infiltration.
FIGURE 8
FIGURE 8
Sudan black staining of liver tissue sections from control, HFD, HFD + O100, HFD + O200.
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