Figure 6.
Betulinic acid improves hepatic steatosis in MCD‐diet induced NASH C57BL/6J mice. Eight‐week‐old C57BL/6J mice were fed an MCD diet in the presence and absence of betulinic acid (100 mg·kg−1·day−1) for 6 weeks. (a) The liver sections were stained with HE and Oil Red O and the total NAFLD activity score (NAS) is shown. Scale bars, 100 μm. (b, c) Hepatic TG (b) and TC (c) of MCS mice and MCD mice in the presence or absence of betulinic acid treatment were measured (n = 6 per group). (d, e) Serum ALT and AST activity. (f, g) The mRNA expression of FXR signalling associated with hepatic inflammatory factors (f) and hepatic lipid metabolism (g). β‐Actin was used as an internal control for normalizing the mRNA levels. Data are presented as means ± SEM (n = 6). *P < 0.05 versus MCS or MCD group. ND: Not detected