AUTHOR=Deng Jiang , Feng Dandan , Jia Xiaoli , Zhai Song , Liu Yixin , Gao Ning , Zhang Xin , Li Mei , Lu Mengnan , Liu Chenrui , Dang Shuangsuo , Shi Juanjuan 

TITLE=Efficacy and mechanism of intermittent fasting in metabolic associated fatty liver disease based on ultraperformance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.838091

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2022.838091

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objectives</title><p>Drug treatment of metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) remains lacking. This study analyzes the efficacy and mechanism underlying intermittent fasting combined with lipidomics.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Thirty-two male rats were randomly divided into three groups: Normal group, administered a standard diet; MAFLD group, administered a 60% high-fat diet; time-restricted feeding (TRF) group, administered a 60% high-fat diet. Eating was allowed for 6 h per day (16:00–22:00). After 15 weeks, liver lipidomics and other indicators were compared.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>A total of 1,062 metabolites were detected. Compared with the Normal group, the weight, body fat ratio, aspartate aminotransferase, total cholesterol, low-density cholesterol, fasting blood glucose, uric acid, and levels of 317 lipids including triglycerides (TG) (17:0<sub>−</sub>18:1<sub>−</sub>20:4) were upregulated, whereas the levels of 265 lipids including phosphatidyl ethanolamine (PE) (17:0<sub>−</sub>20:5) were downregulated in the MAFLD group (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05). Compared with the MAFLD group, the weight, body fat ratio, daily food intake, and levels of 253 lipids including TG (17:0<sub>−</sub>18:1<sub>−</sub>22:5) were lower in the TRF group. Furthermore, the levels of 82 lipids including phosphatidylcholine (PC) (20:4<sub>−</sub>22:6) were upregulated in the TRF group (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05), while serum TG level was increased; however, the increase was not significant (<italic>P</italic> &gt; 0.05). Enrichment analysis of differential metabolites showed that the pathways associated with the observed changes mainly included metabolic pathways, regulation of lipolysis in adipocytes, and fat digestion and absorption, while reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction showed that TRF improved the abnormal expression of <italic>FAS</italic> and <italic>PPAR</italic>α genes in the MAFLD group (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Our results suggest that 6 h of TRF can improve MAFLD <italic>via</italic> reducing food intake by 13% and improving the expression of genes in the PPARα/FAS pathway, thereby providing insights into the prevention and treatment of MAFLD.</p></sec>