Açai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) Upregulates Paraoxonase 1 Gene Expression and Activity with Concomitant Reduction of Hepatic Steatosis in High-Fat Diet-Fed Rats

Figure 1

Hematoxylin and eosin staining of representative sections of livers from rats fed a control or high-fat diet treated with açai pulp. Hepatocytes abnormalities were not observed in the C group (a) and CA group (b). Severe hepatic steatosis was observed in the HF group (c) with the presence of macro- and microvesicular steatosis and inflammatory infiltrate. Steatosis and fat accumulation were reduced in the HFA group (d). Macrovesicular injury is indicated by the black arrow, microvesicular injury by white arrows, and inflammatory infiltrate by the black arrowhead. Images were photographed at 400x magnification. Scale bar = 50 μm. Liver weight (e), liver total fat (f), hepatic triacylglycerol content (g), and grade of liver steatosis (h) of rats fed with control or high-fat diet treated with açai. Data in (e), (f), and (g) were represented as mean ± SEM (). and by ANOVA test followed Tukey’s posttest. Data in (h) were represented as median and interquartile range (). and by Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Dunn’s posttest.

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