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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1549515
Effect of the total flavonoids of Dracocephalum Moldavica L. on metabolic associated fatty liver disease in rats
Provisionally accepted- Baotou Medical College, Baotou, China
Metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is a liver disease syndrome. The total flavonoids of Dracocephalum moldavica L., the main active components of Dracocephalum moldavica L., have been demonstrated not only to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, as well as to regulate gut microbiota. However, the mechanism by which it improves MAFLD is unclear. So we want to investigate how the total flavonoids of Dracocephalum moldavica L. alleviate high-fat diet(HFD)-induced MAFLD in rats. Firstly, MAFLD rat models were established by feeding with HFD, while the total flavonoids of Dracocephalum moldavica L. were administered via gavage. Then, the experiments analyzed the changes of gut microbiota by the 16S rRNA sequencing and detected intestinal barrier permeability and liver inflammation to explore the mechanism of the total flavonoids of Dracocephalum moldavica L. in the prevention and treatment of MAFLD.We found that the total flavonoids of Dracocephalum moldavica L. reduced systemic inflammation and could alleviate serum and liver lipid metabolism disorders in MAFLD rats. The results of the 16S rRNA sequencing demonstrated that the total flavonoids of Dracocephalum moldavica L. increased the abundance and diversity of gut microbiota. Furthermore, the total flavonoids of Dracocephalum moldavica L. have been demonstrated to enhance the intestinal mucosal barrier function, reduce LPS translocation, and inhibit the activation of hepatic TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB pathway.This could effectively ameliorate the hepatic lesions in MAFLD rats.
Keywords: MAFLD, Intestinal Mucosal Barrier, TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB, Liver impairment, Gut Microbiota
Received: 16 Jan 2025; Accepted: 04 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sun, Jin, Liang, Wang, Yu and Ge. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Na Ge, Baotou Medical College, Baotou, China
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