Possible Involvement of Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Oxidative Stress in a Cellular Model of NAFLD Progression Induced by Benzo[a]pyrene/Ethanol CoExposure

Figure 1

Fatty acid-overloaded HepaRG cells as a NAFL model. Steatosis was induced in HepaRG cells as described in Material and Methods. Nonsteatotic (−FA, black bars) and steatotic (+FA, grey bars) HepaRG cells were untreated (c) or treated with 25 mM ethanol (e), 2.5 μM B[a]P (b), or a combination of both toxicants (BE) for 14 days. (a) Assessment of neutral lipid accumulation with Nile red at the end of the fatty acid treatment. (b) Triglyceride levels in the different groups of treatment. (c) mRNA expression of the lipid-related genes APOA4 and PLIN1 in the different groups of treatment. (d) CYP2E1 and CYP3A4 activity in the different groups of treatments. Results are for 4 (b and d) or 3 (c) independent cultures. ^#Significantly different from nonsteatotic cells. Significantly different from untreated nonsteatotic or steatotic HepaRG cells. ^aSignificantly different from nonsteatotic or steatotic HepaRG cells treated with ethanol only.

(a) Accumulation of neutral lipids

(b) Triglyceride levels

(c) mRNA expression of lipid-related genes

(d) CYP2E1 and CYP3A4 activity