Effects of Vitamin E nicotinate on NASH guinea pigs

    ZHAO Li£¬HUANG Xiaoª²Feng£¬YUE Qiaoª²Hong£¬HAO Xiaoª²Ke

    1Department of Clinical Laboratories£¬Xijing Hosptial£¬2Laboratory Center of Electron Microscope£¬School of Basic Medicine£¬Fourth Military Medical University£¬Xi¬ðan 710033£¬China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To establish a guinea pig model for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) by a highª²fat and highª²sucrose diet and to explore the effects of Vitamin E Nicotinate on NASH guinea pigs. METHODS: Twenty normal level guinea pigs were randomly allocated to 4 groups: Two model groups, in which the animals were fed with highª²fat and highª²sucrose diet for 4 and 8 weeks respectively and then sacrificed, one treatment group, in which the animals were given Vitamin E Nicotinate (20 mg/d) for the last 4 weeks on the basis of highª²fat and highª²sucrose diet, and one normal group, in which the animals were fed with standard diet for 8 weeks. The serum ALT, AST, TC, TG levels were measured and the pathologic histology of liver was observed. RESULTS: The liver index increased in model groups and treatment group had a slight decrease without statistical significance. For the serum tests, treatment made no marked difference. ALT was about the same in all the groups but AST was significantly higher in two model groups than control. TC and TG increased dramatically in the 4ª²week model group(P<0.05, P>0.05). TC, though decreased in 8ª²week model group, was still higher than that in control (P<0.05), while its TG was not different from that in control group. Compared with normal group, model groups had worse fatty degeneration, inflammation, necrosis and fibrosis, especially in the 8ª²week model group, but the treatment group showed no marked difference. CONCLUSION: A model of NASH on guinea pigs is successfully established and Vitamin E Nicotinate has no marked effect on the treatment of NASH. ......