Study on the effect of agaro-oligosaccharide in improving alcoholic fatty liver disease based on zebrafish model

Objective: To investigate the effect of agaro-oligosaccharide (AGOS) on alcoholic fatty liver disease (AFLD) based on the zebrafish model. Methods: Wild type AB strain zebrafish were divided into normal group, model group, silibinin group, and AGOS low, medium and high dose groups. Except for the normal group given systemic water feeding, all the other groups were given 1% alcohol-induced zebrafish AFLD model. After 14 days of administration, the pathological changes in the liver tissue were observed by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining and Oil Red O staining, and the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), and reduced glutathione (GSH) in the liver were detected. The contents of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), cytochrome P4502E1 (CYP2E1), reactive oxygen species (ROS), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: Compared with the normal group, the morphological structure of the zebrafish hepatocytes was disordered, and there was obvious steatosis and a large amount of fat deposition in the model group. ALT, AST, TG, TC, MDA, CYP2E1, ROS, IL-6, IL-1β and and TNF-α levels in liver tissue were increased, and the levels of ALDH and SOD were decreased (all P＜0.05). Compared with the model group, the silibinin group and AGOS dose groups had significantly improved the liver steatosis and reduced fat deposition in zebrafish. The levels of ALT, AST, TG, TC and MDA, CYP2E1, ROS, IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α in liver tissue were decreased, and the level of SOD was increased (P＜0.05). The ADH and ALDH levels in the liver of zebrafish in silibinin group were increased (all P＜0.05), and the GSH levels in AGOS dose groups were increased (P＜0.05). Conclusion: AGOS has a certain protective effect on zebrafish AFLD, which is related to regulating lipid metabolism, accelerating alcohol metabolism, alleviating oxidative stress and inhibiting inflammatory response.