Monounsaturated fat decreases hepatic lipid content in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in rats

AIM: To evaluate the effects of different types of dietary fats on the hepatic lipid content and oxidative stress parameters in rat liver with experimental non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). METHODS: A total of 32 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into fi ve groups. The rats in the control group (n = 8) were on chow diet (Group 1), rats (n = 6) on methionine choline-defi cient diet (MCDD) (Group 2), rats (n = 6) on MCDD enriched with olive oil (Group 3), rats (n = 6) on MCDD with fish oil (Group 4) and rats (n = 6) on MCDD with butter fat (Group 5). After 2 mo, blood and liver sections were examined for lipids composition and oxidative stress parameters.RESULTS: The liver weight/rat weight ratio increased in all treatment groups as compared with the control group. Severe fatty liver was seen in MCDD + fish oil and in MCDD + butter fat groups, but not in MCDD and MCDD + olive oil groups. The increase in hepatic triglycerides (TG) levels was blunted by 30% in MCDD + olive oil group (0.59 ± 0.09) compared with MCDD group (0.85 ± 0.04, P < 0.004), by 37% compared with MCDD + fi sh oil group (0.95 ± 0.07, P < 0.001), and by 33% compared with MCDD + butter group (0.09 ± 0.1, P < 0.01). The increase in serum TG was lowered by 10% in MCDD + olive oil group (0.9 ± 0.07) compared with MCDD group (1.05 ± 0.06). Hepatic cholesterol increased by 15-fold in MCDD group [(0.08 ± 0.02, this increment was blunted by 21% in MCDD + f ish oil group (0.09 ± 0.02)]. In comparison with the control group, ratio of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids omega-6/