The Hepatoprotective Effect of Piperine Against Thioacetamide-Induced Liver Fibrosis in Mice: The Involvement of miR-17 and TGF-β/Smads Pathways

Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences

Amr M. Abdelhamid¹  Ayman Selim²  Mai A. Zaafan³ 

[1] Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, October University for Modern Sciences and Arts (MSA), 6th of October City, Egypt;Faculty of Pharmacy, October University for Modern Sciences and Arts (MSA), 6th of October City, Egypt;Pharmacology and Toxicology Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, October University for Modern Sciences and Arts (MSA), 6th of October City, Egypt;

关键词: piperine;    liver fibrosis;    smad-3;    TGF-β;    mice 3;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmolb.2021.754098

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Liver fibrosis is characterized by a series of events including activation of quiescent hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) into proinflammatory, contractile, and fibrogenic myofibroblasts, which is the primary trigger for the fibrogenesis process. HSC activation involves many signaling pathways such as the TGF-β/smads pathway. Specific microRNAs have been identified to play a crucial role in the activation of HSCs via various signaling pathways. Piperine has recently been studied as a promising anti-fibrotic agent against pancreatic fibrosis through altering the TGF-β1/Smad pathway. Hence, the current study evaluated the beneficial effects of piperine in thioacetamide-induced liver fibrosis in mice through the modulation of miRNA-17 and TGF-β/smads pathways. Mice were allocated into three groups randomly. Thioacetamide was used to induce liver fibrosis for 6 weeks. Starting from the fourth week of the experiment, mice were treated with piperine daily for 21 days. Piperine treatment resulted in a significant downregulation of miRNA-17 expression, leading to the restoration of smad-7 accompanied with marked inhibition of TGF-β/smads signaling with further suppression of the activated HSCs and collagen deposition in the hepatocytes. In conclusion, piperine has the potential to be a promising therapeutic drug for the treatment of liver fibrosis through inhibiting the TGF-β/smads pathway.

【 授权许可】

Unknown