Dietary Blueberry and Bifidobacteria Attenuate Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Rats by Affecting SIRT1-Mediated Signaling Pathway

Figure 2

Effect of blueberry juice and bifidobacteria on NAFLD and liver damage. NAFLD rat model was induced with high-fat diet according to a previous report [28]. The nutritional contents of diets were consistent with the previous report [28]. Subsequently, some rats were feeding with or without daily blueberry juice (or blueberry and bifidobacteria) gavage. Half of the rats fed with blueberry or blueberry and bifidobacteria were transfected with SIRT1 RNAi. After 8 weeks, all samples were then stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) (Marked as “H” in the figure) or Oil Red O (Marked as “O” in the figure) to evaluate the degrees of NAFLD (200x). CG (H): in control group, hepatocytes were arranged radially around a central vein and the basic structure of hepatic lobule portal area could be clearly visible. A few small-size cavities could be observed. CG (O): in control group, the number and size of red lipid droplets were very small. MG (H): in NAFLD model group, the structure of hepatic cords was heavily destroyed and many large-size cavities appeared. MG (O): in NAFLD model group, many large-size red lipid droplets were clearly visible in the adipose cells. SI (H): in SIRT1 RNAi group, the structure of hepatic cords was also heavily destroyed and many large-size cavities appeared. SI (O): in SIRT1 RNAi group, many large-size red lipid droplets were also clearly visible in the adipose cells. BJ (H): in blueberry juice group, the destroyed hepatic cords were basically repaired and orderly arranged around a central vein. A few small-size cavities could be observed. BJ (O): in blueberry juice group, many small-size red lipid droplets appeared. BJSI (H): in blueberry juice and SIRT1 RNAi group, the structure of hepatic cords was destroyed and middle-large cavities appeared. BJSI (O): in blueberry juice and SIRT1 RNAi group, many middle-large red lipid droplets appeared. BJB (H): in blueberry juice and bifidobacteria group, the destroyed hepatic cords were repaired completely and neatly arranged around a central vein. Only a few small cavities could be observed. BJB (O): in blueberry juice and bifidobacteria group, a few small-size red lipid droplets were observed. BJBSI (H): in blueberry juice and bifidobacteria and SIRT1 RNAi group, the structure of hepatic cords was destroyed. Some small- and middle-large cavities appeared. BJBSI (O): in blueberry juice and bifidobacteria and SIRT1 RNAi group, many small-size red lipid droplets were observed.